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?

There are times when we must save our strength. The question is: what are we saving it for? Our strength may be limited, but it is real. God gave it to us, and he gave it for a reason. There has never been a shortage of meaningful work to do, people to love, and problems to solve. In all our talk of looking after ourselves, I wonder if we sometimes forget that overprotecting ourselves is at least as dangerous as burnout—it is one of the quickest roads to weakness. Physically, we know that the path to getting stronger is not to save our strength, but to use it. Muscles that are always at rest do not gain power and capability. Quite the opposite. And the same dynamic is true mentally, relationally, and spiritually. Your mind, your heart, and your soul were made to be used, just like your muscles. Of course you can’t use them all at full capacity all the time without any rest. God didn’t make you that way. But if all you do is rest and protect yourself, then your capacity to think, love, and worship will slowly atrophy until your soul can barely wonder, your heart can hardly care, and your mind grinds and freezes like a rusty bike chain that’s been sitting too long in the rain. If you go to the gym, you’ll come home sore and tired—and a little bit stronger. Are you willing to do the same with your love for others? Your service? Your mind? Your worship?

There is a time to save your strength, and a time to spend it.
A time to rest, and a time to wear yourself out.

When you spend your strength, don’t be afraid to spend it generously, with abandon. There’s a time for that. Yes of course you can’t do that forever. No one can. But 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. As the Apostle Paul put it, “I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well” (2 Corinthians 12:15). Don’t forget why God gave you this strength in the first place, why you have a body, a mind, a heart, and a soul. 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.