One Cause of Collapse

Devotional: Elizabeth Elliot

Title: One Cause of Collapse

One excuse that is a catch-all for any failure to
do our jobs is "burn-out." It's an occupational
hazard in just about every occupation modern man
has ever heard of. Strangely enough, we never
heard about burn-out until the past couple of
decades, but now everybody suffers from it.
Exhaustion--physical, mental, emotional--is
endemic. Why?

One reason is lack of humility. In our anxiety to
compete, to prove ourselves, to be a success as
the world defines it, we are wearied and
overburdened. If we sought instead only the
greatness of the kingdom, we would become
childlike. The truly important things are hidden
from the clever and intelligent and are shown to
those who are willing to come and be shown, to
put on the yoke Christ bears, which is the will
of the Father.

We need to learn to walk side by side with Him,
bearing humbly and gently the yoke He places on
us, not the unbearable burdens of competition and
recognition and something called fulfillment. If
we do this, any burden He allows--of loss or pain
or insult or responsibility or heartbreak--will
be both bearable and light, for the weight is
shared with Him. No yoke laid on us in this way
will cause us to burn out or collapse. This yoke
itself will in fact be the very means of our
finding rest. There is no form of recreation or
relaxation or therapy to compare with the rest,
the gentle ease, of Christ's yoke. "Come," He
says to us, "and learn of Me."