Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Tuesday August 24, 2010

Severe problems in the human condition are called by many names; one being in vogue a few years ago, but still, though seldom mentioned was called "Burn Out." Myriads of books and articles were written on the subject, attempts at making a "pill" to cure it abounded and still, this devastating misery abounds.

" The primary driving force in "Burn Out” was not as first thought, due to overwork, but something far more sinister now called "the futility of life" often felt first when the futility of work, and even life itself was/is viewed as Solomon wrote, "Utterly futile" or pure vanity. The pervading sense that nothing really matters, that all effort is in reality useless, thus why expend the effort?

This descent into despair is not a new phenomenon, but one as old as time. Commenting on this Albert Camus stated:

"The gods had condemned Sisyphus to ceaselessly rolling a rock to the top of a mountain, whence the stone would fall back of its own weight. They had thought with some reason that there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labor."

During the Nazi era this agonizing sense of humans to identify that which is futile was brought out by many in Concentration Camps who, "burned out" when they were forced to endlessly move mounds of dirt from one place to another with no obvious purpose other than to make work. Assembly line workers constantly suffer the same feeling, and the woe of the preacher's soul who do not see any fruits from their labor is well known, with near totally embarrassment at the shenanigans of some to create the mere appearance that "God" is doing something in our midst, thus obliterating the need for faith such as that of Noah. One of the beauties of serving Christ is grandly expressed in:

1 Corinthians 15:19: If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

Paul further emphasized the reality that in serving Christ the ultimate success outweighs our need to "see" in the now for we surely must have the enduring hope that, unlike Sisyphus, we will reap; this knowledge of the future gives us the most powerful hope now. Here is the capstone of our hope:

1 Corinthians 15:58: Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2010 Use with credit

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