Wellbeing Series - Conclusion - The Importance of Friendship
In this series we have spent a lot of time looking into the life of Elijah an Old Testament prophet who was a faithful servant of God but who also suffered from exhaustion and burnout! It's true that in some christians circles leaders almost wear exhaustion as a badge of honour but God hasn't called us to live our lives right on the ragged edge all the time, it can be really damaging for our health.
As we wrap up this series the obvious question at this point is how are you doing in the areas which we have looked at? How is your physical, emotional, spiritual, relational, financial and vocational wellbeing? Are any of these areas better since the start of this series? Have some of them got worse, whether due to expected or even unforeseen circumstances?
If the answer is that they have got worse, how are you going to address this? As we’ve said all along, if we are low in one of these major areas of your life it will impact the other areas. We’re whole people and the ‘parts’ of our lives are all interconnected. It can be really unhelpful to compartmentalise things especially when thinking of the subject of wellbeing, it can lead to us missing what's really going on, especially where we are struggling with low mood or even depression.
Part of God’s solution for Elijah was human relationships and specifically his relationship with Elisha who intitially served Elijah but who became like a son to him. Elijah mentored Elisha in the latter part of his life and eventually Elisha took on the mantel which Elijah was carrying and became a mighty prophet in his own right.
It’s interesting how God can use people who have a servant heart to do great exploits for Him. Remember David, he was a simple shepherd boy, who took his brothers some food. He ended up defeating Goliath and eventually became King of all Israel as had been prophesied.
We need to remember that God is a father and his desire is to set the lonely into families. This should revolutionise our lives. We have a home in God’s family, the challenge for us is to build family, to open our lives and our homes to one another.
What is God’s call on your life at the moment? How can you be bringing people into God’s family?
Crucially, this isn’t something that’s just for those who are married or who have children or live with their nuclear family. This is for singles, students or those who house share. You can welcome people into your family and build them into community, you can help others feel grounded, seen and understood, simply by opening your homes and being hospitable.
We aren’t called to do this Christian life alone, in fact we were created for relationship! Relationship with God and relationship with one another. So as we close this series, let’s be intentional in making our homes, our lives, safe places where we can welcome one another to friendship, to family, to be part of the story of our lives.
These simple things can make a huge difference to those who are struggling or have hit burn out, we can be part of God’s solution!
We've meerly scratched the surface in this series looking at Wellbeing, if you are interested in reading more on this subject why not pick up a copy of the book we used to base the series on. You can read a summary and find links to buy the book below.
Watch
Listen
Watch the full series here:
Listen to the Full Series here:
More episodes will be added as we progress through the series. You can watch and listen to other series and talks by visiting our media page: jubilee.org.uk/media
Why not read the book which helped us shape this series?
“God’s Plan for your Wellbeing” by Dave Smith - This book will help you delve deeper into this subject.
From the back cover:
The UK’s #1 concern, from Cabinet to classroom, is wellbeing.
Dave Smith, writing from personal experience, leads us on a 50-day adventure to improve our physical, emotional, spiritual, relational, financial and vocational health. This book is a simple and easily accessible guide for individuals and groups to take next steps towards greater wellbeing. Informative and practical, bit upon biblical principles, this guide acts as a personal Satnam in a journey towards greater resilience and a richer quality of life. We discover that God really does have a plan for our overall health and sets us on a course for a lifetime of ever-increasing wellbeing!
Recommendations:
Dave Smith is one of the most gifted Christian leaders in the UK today and I am delighted that he has produced this exciting new book to help all of us grow in wellbeing.Nicky Gumbel, Vicar of HTB and pioneer of Alpha
Dave offers bite-sized daily meditations and practical next-steps suggestions to help us on our journey of increasing wellbeing. As someone who has been through my own struggles with wellbeing, I can’t recommend this timely book enough.Simon Thomas, TV presenter, author and podcaster
Who is Dr Dave Smith? Dave became a Christian while studying at Oxford University, where he went on to complete a doctorate in church history. He and his wife, Karen, moved to Peterborough in 1988 to start KingsGate Community church - now a large, multicultural, intergenerational, multisite church. Dave has a heart to see a revival of healthy believers and churches who in turn impact their neighbourhoods and the nations! He loves walking and is a avid Manchester City fan!
