Following Jesus should energise you, not leave you feeling burned out. He says: ‘Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you…and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light’ (Matthew 11:28-29 NLT). Jesus had more to do than any of us, yet He never seemed to do it in a way that severed the life-giving connection with His Father, or interfered with His ability to show love to others. He regularly withdrew from the busyness of life in order to pray. Even when His disciples returned, excited with success from a busy time of ministry, He told them, ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest’. When we don’t prioritise the right things in life we become people who run around trying to do everything. So what’s at the top of our priority list? It may be something great, like church or friendships, but we can still become burned out when we’re constantly giving and not spending time resting and receiving from God. God should be our priority in life, and spending time with Him is an essential part of our days, not just an ‘if I have time’ thing. The work God can do through us is limited if we’re not allowing God to work in us. So we need to rest, refocus and remain connected to God, our priority.

What Now?
What’s been taking your attention away from spending time with God? Today choose to put God first and make sure you spend some time resting in His presence.