There are times when giving everything you’ve got is exactly what is needed. So go for it. Give, and rest, and then give some more. There’s a joy in spending your strength for others that you can’t get anywhere else. There is a time to save your strength—so that you can spend it more effectively in love and joyful service for God and others.

In Ecclesiastes 3, Solomon famously says that “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” For example, he says that there is “a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,” there is “a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,” and the list goes on. It’s a long list, but it isn’t exhaustive, and I’d like to propose another pair that fits the theme:

There is a time to save your strength, and a time to spend it.

We hear a lot these days about looking after ourselves, protecting our schedules, and making sure we don’t over-extend and burn ourselves out. In light of the constant demands of the modern world—the overflowing inboxes and never-ending text messages and notifications and the often unrealistic expectations of others—this advice is important. Burnout is very real. I’ve been there myself. God knew what he was doing when he gave us one day in seven as a day of rest. “He knows our frame, he remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:14). Do we remember?

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