Wear Out Or Rust Out

George Whitefield, on this day, September 30, 1770, woke at 2am with an the beginning of breathing problems that he suffered from for some time and thought was asthma. He decided to take 2-3 days off of preaching to recover. Then soon after decided it would be better to preach that day. "A good pulpit sweat today may give me relief. I shall be better after preaching."

Richard Smith, his assistant, responded, "I wish you would not preach so often, sir."

Whitefield: "I would rather wear out than rust out."

He sat up in bed, praying. When finished, he went back to sleep for an hour and then awoke at 4am barely able to breathe. That morning George Whitefield died, fighting for each breath, until he met his Savior face to face.

Comments

[Nikos]

What a great man of God! How we need more like him today.

[Trey]

"God gave me a gospel to preach and a horse to ride. I've killed the horse (speaking of his body) therefor I can no longer preach the gospel." - Robert Murray M'Cheyne who died at 29 from stress related issues. I ain't buying it.

[Steve McCoy]

You ain't buying what?

[Trey]

That burnout is at all God glorifying

[Trey]

British evangelist Christmas Evans once declared, “It is better to burn out than to rust out in the service of the Lord.”
James Berkely responded - "I admire the bravado. It sounds dedicated, bold, and stirring. However, when I view the burnt-outs and the almost burnt-outs who lie by the ecclesiastical road, the glory fails to reach me. I see pain and waste and unfinished service. Is there not a third alternative to either burning out or rusting out? In Acts 20:24 Paul stated, “I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me.” Herein, lies the model I choose to follow. I want neither to burn out nor rust out. I want to finish out the race.”

[Steve McCoy]

Trey, Whitefield isn't speaking of "burn out." He took the body he had in the broken world he's in and used it until he was done. Even my post above shows he was debating whether or not to preach and he actually considered it better for him and his health to preach. Biographers consider that he may have been ill in a way he didn't understand. I'm a bit surprised you see Whitefield as someone you seem to equate "pain and waste and unfinished service."

[Caleb Kolstad]

Perhaps the most amazing burn out is by the martyrs of the church (the 12, Tyndale, Rogers, etc).

[Caleb Kolstad]

Also Col 1:28-29 and Paul's testimony in 1 Cor 15:10; "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me."

The answer here is both/and not either/or...

Total dependence on Christ; Maximum human effort (Spirit-filled of course). Col 1:29. Many American Christians and pastors are too lazy and/or too complacent. I fight against my flesh all the time and often fail. Paul is a great role model (1 Cor 11:1).