You thought you were in control. You had everything running just like you wanted it. Sure, you weren’t ahead or anything crazy like that. But you weren’t behind, either. All of your projects—whatever they happened to be—were moving along nicely. You were meeting the millions of deadlines threatening to overtake you. The work was hard, but you were getting things done.
And then it happened.
You took one terrifying, stress producing, step beyond your capacity. Perhaps it was one project too many at work, too many things went wrong at home, or the combination of any number of good or bad things. Regardless of its nature, at some point, you realize a terrifying, anxiety-producing, stress-building, burnout track, truth:
You don’t control your work, it controls you.
Ever been here?
The question isn’t whether or not you’ll find yourself in this situation; it’s when. When it happens, how will you respond? Some people retreat from their responsibilities, in order to recover a sense of peace, joy, control, and meaning. These folks escape to “worlds” where their sense of comfort, control, power, approval, or whatever, is re-established and not threatened. Others, on the other hand, respond to overwhelming pressure by simply trying harder. These overachievers will accomplish their responsibilities, whether it costs them their relationships or their health. Far from easing your difficult situation, these responses make it worse.
While I have committed both of these errors over the years, I’ve found that three things have helped me more than anything else:
Identify the god behind the work – If someone were to ask you why you were so stressed, frustrated, worried, or uneasy, you would list a task or person. But in order to understand why your work controls your stress level, you need to identify the god behind the work. Behind every project, whether you are religious or not, is a god. Sure, you probably don’t call it that. But your god, as Tim Keller has so nicely put, is simply “whatever is most important to you.” It may be human approval, control, comfort, security, or some other good thing. It’s what you need in order to be happy, at peace, and to feel meaningful. These gods lay behind everything you do, motivating you every step of the way, although they are often undetected. If your god is human approval, then the reason (among many others) you work is to get recognized, appreciated, and celebrated. If your god is power, then the reason you work is to gain more power. The work is a means to an end. And these gods control your emotions and stress level. If you have a god of human approval, you are excited when you think that you will complete your project in a way that gets you recognition and celebrated. But when you don’t think you’re work will acquire approval and appreciation, you will be worried and anxious. And so it is with every other type of god. In order to find freedom in your work, you need to identify the god behind your work.
Expose the lie of the god – Once you’ve identified the god behind your work—the god who controls you—you need to expose the lie of the god. In short, the lie that you currently believe is that you have to have people’s approval, be in control, etc. in order to “be somebody”, to be happy, be satisfied, be safe, etc. It seems convincing in your head, especially since the world says that and lives like it is true. But it is false. The fact is, and you know this on your better days, whenever you get your god (human approval, more control, etc.), you never get the lasting joy, satisfaction, and meaning that you thought you would. These gods never deliver. These gods are liars. They promise to give you life, as they lead you down the path of discontent, meaningless, smallness, and death. Take the control of your meaning, joy, and life out of the hands of these impotent, lying gods, so you can find what you’re looking for. In order to do this, you need to expose the lie of your particular god.
Rest in the God who works – The joy, meaning, and peace, that you have been working so hard for is found in one place—one person. In Christ, you can have the satisfaction, meaning, and peace that you always hoped existed, but never found. While your joy, meaning, and peace used to depend on your work and your circumstances, when you rest in Jesus, all of these great things are yours, apart from your work and circumstances. Rather than work hard for lazy, lying gods, Jesus invites you to rest in the God who works for you. You can rest because Jesus completed the most important work—the work that secured your eternal joy, happiness, and meaning—on the cross, without your help. This joy, happiness, and contentment isn’t earned by your hard work, it is received by faith in Christ’s sufficient work. You don’t have to work perfectly (perfect parent, worker, etc.) in order to have the happiness, meaning, joy, peace you always hoped existed. You don’t have to have perfect circumstances (easy work load, easy kids, etc.) in order to have the happiness, meaning, joy, peace you always dreamed was possible. As you rest in the God who works, you receive the power to work through his Spirit and the priorities of work through his Word. Rather than worry about being something you can’t be at work, rest in the God who made, redeemed, and empowered you to work for his glory. Instead of dying under your work, let Jesus’ work-which cost him his life-free you to work with passion and joy.
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