Joy vs Burnout | Hebrews 12 – Part 2

As executives and owners we experience the highs and lows of business in ways our employees will never realize. The joy found in success and the burden in failure mainly fall on us, so we experience it to a greater degree. As we continue our 4 part series on Hebrews 12:1-3 we are diving into Joy and Burnout in the race God has set before us. Run With Endurance – Overview (Part 1).  

Hebrews 12: Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. 3 Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up.

Burnout is a real struggle in whatever organization, industry, or role you are in. That’s why there are many techniques used to prevent it: time management tools, delegation, and a “work/life” balance. These techniques have a place as long as they don’t become our ultimate solution. In Hebrews 12 we see Jesus take a different approach. He endured, not by delegating or working smarter, but by putting His joy in heaven. The key difference between Jesus’ approach and the world’s is the focal point.

Think about a Tough Mudder. It’s a race full of individual obstacles and challenges that are significant achievements; yet, you would never confuse these obstacles for the finish line. In business, these obstacles and challenges can come in the form of completing a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal), growing our company to a certain level or entering retirement. Unfortunately, the world tends to view these challenges not as obstacles or milestones, but as the actual finish line. As Christ followers, our perspective should be different. Our finish line can only be one thing: Heaven, our ultimate focus and destination. 

Jesus, the champion, who already won the race was able to endure the most difficult obstacle on the course: the cross. He endured it because He knew his finish line was beyond that. He was focused on heaven. Conceptually this makes sense, but putting it into practice is extremely hard. We are worldly beings often focused on tangible and measurable outcomes. It’s easy to set something like retirement as our finish line and focus on experiencing the fruits of our labor. However, if we set our joy on anything short of heaven we are confusing an obstacle in the race for the finish line.  

Think about what you spend your time longing for. What does that say about your race and what you see as the finish line?

Practical takeaways: 1) We look to Christ and set our joy in heaven, vs our business and its future outcomes. 2) We prevent burnout by setting out sites in heaven, an object greater than any problem we face and a finish line much grander than retirement (or other future destinations we have our sites set on).