Joseph Mattera Teaches Us How to Burn in the Spirit

In Joseph Materra’s book, The Jesus Principles, he asks seven questions to help readers determine if their walk with God is fully directed or set adrift. Because I feel the book makes a powerful impact on living and working in the presence of the Lord, I felt it important to review Materra’s questions in serial format for readers and podcast listeners of Greenelines. This is part two in the series. For part one, click here.

I submitted a theme in an English Composition class one day in which I described watching a house burn down. I received a Pavlovian reward in the form of an A, but a question my teacher posed disturbed me:

“Does a house burn up or burn down?”

That question burned me up for years. I certainly never wrote the phrase again until now. But the word-choice challenge did prepare me to consider other similar quandaries: write down or write up, beat up or beat down, tear up or tear down?

Mattera posed a second question about drifting through life in his book Jesus Principles: “Are you suffering burnout?”

The Mayo Clinic describes burnout with a non-medical description: “Job burnout is a special type of work-related stress—a state of physical or emotional exhaustion that also involves a sense of reduced accomplishment and loss of personal identity.” The clinic offers the following list to consider:

— Have you become cynical or critical at work?

— Do you drag yourself to work and have trouble getting started?

— Have you become irritable or impatient with co-workers, customers or clients?

— Do you lack the energy to be consistently productive?

— Do you find it hard to concentrate?

— Do you lack satisfaction from your achievements?

— Do you feel disillusioned about your job?

Prayerfully consider these questions, and check back here tomorrow for more help in keeping the Spirit burning—in life and in work. Click here to purchase Joseph Mattera’s book The Jesus Principles, on sale now for 50% off. {eoa}

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