Jesus once told a parable about ten bridesmaids — five wise and five foolish. I’ve often heard the parable taught in church as a lesson in being prepared to wait for Jesus’s return and not becoming complacent in the waiting. But is that really what it’s about?
All of the women fell asleep. There was no difference in their level of activity — only in their preparedness. One set literally burned themselves out and didn’t leave anything to replenish themselves with. The other set also fell asleep, but when their lamps ran low, they had brought extra supply.
Which brings me to a new conclusion: This parable could just as easily be about not burning ourselves out as it is about waiting.
People in ministry love Jesus. They often dedicate their lives, their hobbies, their energy and resources to sharing the good news about Him with others, serving people in the name of Jesus, and advocating for the weak and helpless. This work can be all-consuming. We do it “for the sake of the Gospel.”
But is that what God really asks of us?
I’ve written before about how giving up more than God asks of us can be just as bad as giving up less than He asks. When we do more than what He asks, we risk a different type of disobedience. After all, if a farmer asks me to plow a certain field, and I plow both that field and the one beside it too, am I being helpful—or did I just destroy a crop that wasn’t ready to be harvested?
Missionaries and pastors seem particularly susceptible to the lie that working ourselves to exhaustion is somehow a demonstration of godliness. It may be a demonstration of dedication to our work, but not of our dedication to God. So what does this parable tell us about the right way to approach our work?
- We need to be prepared for Christ to take longer.
He is not — and never was — going to come according to our schedule. He is our leader. We are not His.
If God has called us to ministry, it may be for a lifetime, or it may be for a season. If it’s for a season, He will redeploy us somewhere else when we’re done. In either case, we cannot afford to pour an entire lifetime of energy into only a few years before we burn ourselves out.
Once we burn out, there’s no guarantee we will ever come back. Some people’s personalities and mental health are changed forever.
- The things we do may look similar to what others do.
The work of a Christian advocate for the poor might look very similar to that of the work of someone who’s not a Christian, but the nuances will be different. The motivations will be different. The spiritually-holistic approach will be different.
If we anchor our sense of accomplishment and well-being in Jesus rather than the results of our work, our mental and spiritual health will also be different. Jesus can give us the stamina to keep going, to live an entire lifetime of faithfulness. It’s that longevity that often stands out more than anything else to the people who observe and come after us.
Our testimony doesn’t just consist of what we do. It consists of our faithfulness in doing it. Not just for a few years, but for a lifetime.
- We need to leave ourselves enough resources to last, so we can keep burning.
Our lives and ministries should consume those resources at a sustainable rate. In other words, we shouldn’t be constantly edging towards burnout, even if we don’t quite get there. We should always be engaging in self-care practices and rest that replenish our resources.
This “leave enough resources” principle isn’t just intended for the person in ministry, but for their family as well. If we don’t leave ourselves enough to take care of our spouses and families, then, as Paul says, “Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Timothy 5:8).
This may mean that as we age, our activities diminish somewhat, apace with diminishing energy.
It also means that we make rest a part of our rhythms of ministry. Depleted, we may be able to put on a good show for a while — perhaps falling back on old journals and moments of learning during times when we were less worn — but eventually our depletion will show itself in our ministries.
This could be in the form of ever-decreasing nourishment in the things we teach. It could also be in the form of a fall into sin. Depleted people are more likely to stumble and fall. Rest is not just required for our own refreshment. It’s required to sustain godliness.
If our rest is insufficient, we won’t have the energy to pursue God—really pursue Him in devotions. Sitting in silence takes focus and energy. Meditation takes energy and creativity (another thing that turns off in fatigue). Intensive prayer takes loads of energy.
Is it any wonder, then, that taking a Sabbath rest is one of the Ten Commandments? That commandment is a fundamental undergirding, a support for our obedience in every other dimension.
In contrast, how many people have become shells of their former selves, have lost their faith, or caused their families to lose their faith because of their obsession with serving with no thought to wisely stewarding their time, efforts, and energy so they’ll be sustainable through the long haul?
I now think that Jesus’s admonition at the end of the parable of the lamps in Matthew 25 to “keep watch” (“be on the alert,” the NASB says) is actually an admonition to take care of our own resources so that we can keep burning — no matter when He comes.
Originally published here; reprinted with permission.
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Originally from Canada, Valerie Limmer lives in Okinawa, Japan, where she’s served as a missionary with her husband since 2011, partnering with the local church to focus on outreach and discipleship. Their Japanese pastor calls them “bridge-makers,” facilitating relationships with the community. Valerie is the author of Captive Set Free: How to Find Freedom Through Forgiving and On the Potter’s Wheel, a memoir of disability on the mission field. To learn more about her work or to read more of her articles, visit peterandvalerie.com/OurBlog.
