Are You Pouring Out or Burning Out?
If you follow me on social media, you might be wondering what this post will actually be about - since I shared a reel on Friday night about what I do when it’s Friday night and I don’t have a blog post ready.
To tell the truth, it’s not that I didn’t have a post idea at all. It’s that the idea I have isn’t working. I’ve been working on Philippians 2:17-20 in my memory work lately, and I wanted to write about several parts of that.
Paul uses the word “care” in verse 20, and I have a little note in my Bible that says it’s the same Greek word as “anxious” in 4:6 (the one that says not to be anxious.) That sent me down a whole rabbit trail about caring and anxiety and how they relate, and I think I have more questions than answers and nothing that’s going to turn into a helpful post for this week.
But I’ve also been thinking about the phrase “poured out” in verse 17, and it’s a little simpler. (I am literally typing this out and hitting publish all on Saturday morning, so I apologize if it’s a little less polished than usual.) Here’s the verse:
Yes, and if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.
Here’s the question I’ve been asking: what’s the difference between being poured out to do the work of God, and just plain burning out?
As far as I know, this is the only passage to use the phrase “poured out,” but we have plenty of verses about sacrifice and offering. The heartbeat of Christlike love is a willingness to serve, to put others first, to lay down your life for others, and to sacrifice joyfully. There’s no doubt that the Bible commends giving everything you have to serve others.
And yet there’s also a danger of using these verses to justify pouring out so much you have nothing left. Burnout in ministry is a very real thing, and finding balance is important. There’s a lot about modern “self-care” culture that’s simply selfish, but there’s some practical wisdom in taking care of yourself enough to have something to give to others.
So how do we reconcile biblical self-sacrifice with practical self-care?
Let’s think about what “sacrifice” actually means in biblical terms. To the New Testament audience, the idea of presenting your own self as a living sacrifice to God was a new one. Their ideas of sacrifice would have come from the Old Testament system of animal sacrifices.
But Old Testament sacrifices were not enough to remove sin. At their best, the animal sacrifices were merely a symbol of a humble heart before God. And the same is true of the New Testament idea of self-sacrifice.
Just like with the Old Testament sacrifices, we miss the point as soon as we start to believe that God needs our sacrifice. If we believe that what we are giving is the key to the saving work of God, our sacrifice is in vain.
Our sacrifice is acceptable to God when it’s a symbol of a willing and repentant heart. Like the widow who put two small coins into the offering plate, even when we give everything we have it amounts to very little.
Because there has only ever been one sacrifice that brings salvation, and that is Jesus. As Hebrews explains in detail, his sacrifice was offered once and for all, replacing the Old Testament sacrifices which were never enough to make the offerers perfect.
And so too with our being poured out. All our sacrifice and service to God is only a symbol of what’s actually happening in our hearts. The real work has already been done. So yes, let’s be willing to pour out our lives for Christ - but never forget that it’s him pouring into us.