Soul Fatigue
Galatians 6:7-10
A Fatigue to Avoid
From most forms of fatigue we cannot escape.
• Physical fatigue is a daily reality.
• Mental fatigue consistently visits those who know real life requires reflection.
• Emotional fatigue invades our inner world when life becomes too heavy.
But there is a weariness we must avoid! Soul fatigue is the most dangerous form of exhaustion. It tempts us to quit on who we need the most … God. It entices us to quit on what we need the most – God’s will, God’s plan, God’s best.
Listen to the Word of God again:
Let us not become weary in doing good for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Definition of Soul Fatigue
I have soul fatigue when I protest doing the good God requests!
• When I decide I am no longer obeying God.
• I am no longer serving in a ministry.
• I am done with my co-workers.
I have soul fatigue when I assume doing good doesn’t matter.
• It doesn’t give shape to a better me, a better we, a better world.
Soul Fatigue and the Future
Soul fatigue is dangerous! It’s dangerous because it has a way of tampering with your future.
ILLUS: Exxon Valdez Soul Fatigue and a Satisfying Future
The Exxon Valdez is an oil tanker that was on its way to Long Beach, California. Instead, it crashed into a reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska. The crash resulted in the second largest oil spill in US History. Between 25-32 million gallons of oil spilled into the Ocean. Over 250,000 members of God’s creation died as a result. Bird life and marine life died. The quality of human lives were compromised by the spill. The primary reason for the tragedy was the fatigue of the crew. In fact, the captain of the ship was asleep when the ship crashed. Because of crew fatigue, its cargo, meant to support life, ended up sabotaging life.
You and I are carrying precious cargo!
But to make our delivery we have to avoid soul fatigue.
We can support life, not sabotage life, if we don’t give way to moral exhaustion.
We will reap a harvest – as individuals and as a church – if we keep doing the good we started at the beginning of the journey!
Crosshairs of Soul Fatigue
Before I stroll to the text, let me give you a couple of things you that may put us in the crosshairs of soul fatigue. You are aware of those that are most obvious, like overextending ourselves physically and emotionally. But often soul fatigue is created by the longing for God and lesser pursuits, chasing the higher good and various lesser goods simultaneously. This makes for a conflicted soul. Let me give you a couple of things we don’t typically consider.
Some have soul fatigue because they are …
… Too Busy Trying to Look Good.
Some invest so much energy in how they look they don’t have much stamina left to develop who they are. Maintaining our brand requires a lot of overtime hours. I can’t maintain my image and reflect his image at the same time. It’s exhausting! I have to pick one!
… Too Busy Trying to Live Good.
I’m thinking of those who think one of the goals in life is to be entertained. They have to go to every play, every movie, every concert, watch every sporting event, play golf weekly, go out of town every month. It’s hard to be a full time consumer and a full time contributor at the same time. It’s exhausting. I have to pick one.
… Too Busy Trying to Receive Good.
Many wait to receive good before they do good! This is a recipe for less than good in life. Always trying to figure out if I should wait for good or initiate good is emotionally exhausting. I have to pick one! But before you choose remember the text does not say “Let us not grow weary in waiting for others to do good to us.” It says, “Let us not grow weary in doing good.”
TRANSITION TO TEXT
What does this text tell us about avoiding Soul Fatigue?
What do we need to stay energized? Here it is: We need God!
Energy comes from God. Who I am is shaped by my understanding of who God is and what God has done for me. A. W. Tozer says, “What comes to mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us! “
To avoid Soul Fatigue…
Be Energized by God’s Programming (v. 9).
Created to Redistribute
You were created to both receive and redistribute the goodness of God. Your soul was programmed for good.
Text – v. 9
This is why Paul said don’t grow weary in doing good. To grow tired of doing good is to grow tired of being who you are, who we are created to be. But urging us to do good, God is not urging us to be who we are not. He is urging us to discover who we are! You can draw energy from the fact that you were born for this.
Paul reminds of this in Ephesians 2:10. He says: We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God has prepared in advance for us to do.
I like that he has prepared us in advance for us to do good. That means God’s has written our good deeds into his story. To protest doing good is to edit God’s story, to rewrite our role in the script. We have a world prepared for us to do good deeds, a world thirsty for us to do good.
Different way of engaging others
Christianity is a different way of engaging others. For a Christian to protest doing good to others is like a fish refusing to swim, like birds rebelling against flight, or like a dog boycotting the act of barking. Always remember this:
The entire world with one trifling exception is composed of others.
How we handle the others determines our legacy.
ILLUS: Remember how it was when you were a child
Now I am aware that when it comes to believing in ourselves most of us are doubters. For those who don’t feel empowered, I want you to remember how it was when you were child. Remember how your parents thought you could do things you were convinced were impossible.
• Your parents thought you could spend the night with relatives as a baby though you were convinced you would die if your mother left you.
• They thought you could handle going to school by yourself ALL DAY. So they dropped you off one day in spite of your tearful protest and left you there. You survived and eventually learned to like it.
• Long before high school they thought you could finish college and get a great job. You didn’t even know what they were talking about at the time. They were keeping you from playing Nintendo. But look at you now!
Over and over again, when we obeyed them, we discovered our parents were right. They saw in us what we could not see ourselves. Our Heavenly Father sees in you and me, something we may not be mature enough to see yet. Something we may view as improbable right now. But if we obey him, relying on his strength, we will discover that he has been right all along. We will discover we really are carrying precious cargo, that we bring value to the others in our world!
To avoid Soul Fatigue…
Be Energized by God’s Predictability (vv. 7-8).
God has predictable patterns. There is some mystery in God but for the most part he is quiet predictable. He works to ensure the good we do matters!
TEXT, vv. 7-8
Listen to the text. I want to read this from The Message version:
Galatians 6:7-8 – The Message
Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life.
o Makes a fool of God – No one gets away with ignoring or doing God’s will. We can’t escape the consequences of sin or the privileges of surrender.
God is predictable! Because he is predictable, my future is predictable. I can choose the future I want. Because God is irrevocably consistent, my choices matter. I am shopping tomorrow with today’s choices. There are no victims in this life … just volunteers!
ILLUS: Live Like a Farmer
Paul is urging us to live like a farmer. Life is like farming. If I want to reap a harvest I have to sow seed.
• If I sow apple seeds, what kind of tree will grow on my land? Apple!
• If I sow orange seeds what kind of tree can I expect in the future? Orange.
• It would be unwise for me to expect potatoes after I have planted apple seeds.
The fruit of the future is determined by the seeds planted in the present. Right now we are giving shape to the next decade of our lives. So if I want more of God in the future, I have to sow seeds of godliness in the present. If I want better relationships in the future, I can’t plant seeds of unforgiveness today. If I sow apple seeds, I will have an apple tree a few years from now.
There is Some Mystery
Now in spite of God’s predictability there is mystery as well. There are some things about his patterns we can’t predict. But if we know where the mystery lies then it’s not that mystical. If I know the few ways in which God is unpredictable, then I can predict the unpredictable. This makes the unpredictable a predictable unpredictability. So here are some predictable “unpredictabilities” about God.
• We don’t always reap where we sow. We usually do reap where we sow … but not always. We all know what it’s like to be disappointed by someone in whom we have invested much. Even Jesus had a Judas in his crew. We all know what it’s like to fail at something we tried passionately to achieve.
• We don’t always reap when we expect. If you are like me, you want to sow your seed today and reap your harvest next week. But God doesn’t usually work like that. The best things in like are like the birth of a child … 90% waiting! It takes 4-6 years for apples to grow on an apple tree.
• We don’t reap down here what God has reserved for us over there. There are some things God is reserving for heaven. God has all eternity to bless you, so you don’t have to get it all down here. It’s hard to understand God if you have misplaced your theology of heaven. It’s easy to accuse God of being unfair, if you don’t calculate what he will do for us in heaven. The best blessings are reserved for heaven.
o Bodies that never get sick … You only get that over there.
o Peace that is never disturbed … You have to wait until you get over there.
o Relationship never interrupted by drama … That’s for over there.
o You may never have any money down here … But over there… all of us will live the lifestyle of the rich and famous.
God is predictable, but there is some mystery to his patterns. But if you live like a farmer, you won’t be able to escape the blessing of Gods down here or over there.
TRANSITION to Conclusion
Let me close with this.
Perhaps you came with a depleted soul on today.
Perhaps you came here ready to give way to moral exhaustion.
To avoid Soul Fatigue…
Be Energized by his Promise (vv. 9-10).
There is a promise here for the resilient, for those who refuse to quit!
Corrie Ten Boon says: “Let the promises of God shine on your problems”
Let us not become weary in doing good for we will reap a harvest if we don’t give up.
Shine that on your problems. God’s promises are checks to be cashed not slogans to hang on a wall. You want to cash this check.
We will reap a harvest in time.
• A harvest of righteousness … we will learn how to live for God.
• A harvest of relationships … we will learn how to love God’s people.
We will reap a harvest in eternity.
• You will enjoy the Reward of Heaven … we will spend eternity with God.
• You will enjoy rewards in Heaven … special roles in heaven are given to those who are faithful to the end.
I recommend you cash this check! It will spend on earth and in heaven!
Already Given Up?
Maybe you are here and have already given up. You’ve given up but you are showing up at church out of habit. Is it too late for you? Absolutely not! Our God knows how to restore a soul. He specializes in comeback stories.
ILLUS: Derek Redmond
Derek Redmond was a British 400M runner whose career was devastated by injuries. He held the British Record in the 400M. He had won gold medals in the 4x400M in the World Championship, European Games and in the Commonwealth Games. But in the 1988 Olympics he had to drop out due to an Achilles’ injury. In 1992 Redmond was in good form. He posted the fastest time in the first round of competition and went on to win the quarterfinal. But in the semi-finals, he pulled a hamstring in the back straight away about 250-meters from the finish line. He hobbled to a halt, and then fell to the ground in pain. Trainers began to come with a stretcher. But before they got to him, Redmond decided he had come too far to not finish the race. He began to hobble along the back stretch. Suddenly, moving like only a loving father, his dad came out of the stands. To the cheers of the fans in Barcelona, he helped his son finish the race.
Just because you’ve been injured does not mean you can’t finish this race.
• If you start hobbling on the track…
• If you can hobble into a prayer closet…
• …You have a Father in the stands who will help you finish this race.
You may not win all the medals you want down here, but there is a gold medal of life waiting for you over there. Your Father will help you finish this race.
A righteous man falls seven times but the Lord picks him up.
Therefore as we have opportunity let us do good to all people especially those who are of the household of faith.
