We cannot be best for God if we drive ourselves too hard

Dear Dr. Graham: I am a hard and responsible worker. People depend on me. Carrying this weight of always being available to others is dragging me down. I often find myself in irritable moods and nervous inside. How can I change without disappointing others? D.R.

Dear D.R.: Becoming physically rundown is not only bad for a person’s health, it also suggests that a person is not making time for the lord. He tells us to cast our burdens on him. He tells us that he will carry our load. He tells us to not fret but to rest in him (see Psalm 37:7).

That may seem easier to say than to do, but this is a command from our lord. Also remember that Christians have a duty to keep themselves as fit as possible, spiritually and physically. We cannot be the best for God when we drive ourselves to the point of dropping with fatigue, then snapping.

When the apostles returned from their first preaching tour, Jesus told them to “rest a while” (Mark 6:31). He recognized that they had bodies as well as souls. He knew their need of rest if they were to be of further service to him. The deeper lesson for them was to understand their need to spend time in communion with him each day. We mustn’t miss this truth. We should strive to please the lord, not man. Power from the lord comes from reading his word and communing with him. Nothing so restores mental equilibrium as regular, daily prayer.