THE LINC COLLECTIVE

Scriptures

Luke 10:38–42; Matthew 4:1–11; James 3:4–6; Hebrews 2:1; Hebrews 4:9–16; Matthew 9:36–38; Matthew 5:41; Hebrews 10:24–25; Matthew 6:33; Genesis 2:2–3; 1 Corinthians 15:55–57; James 1:5–8

Blog Post

Why am I so tired? It is a question many of us carry quietly. Some of us are tired in the good way—the kind of tired that comes after a meaningful day, faithful work, a finished assignment, a hard workout, or time well spent loving the people entrusted to us. But there is another kind of tiredness. It is deeper than needing one good night’s sleep. It is the weariness of a soul that has been running without rest, striving without peace, and carrying burdens it was never meant to hold alone.

Perhaps you recognise the spectrum: scratchy and stretched; frazzled and fierce; booked out and foggy; or bone tired, where even simple things feel impossibly heavy. Jesus does not shame us in those places. He meets us there with the same tenderness He showed Martha.

In Luke 10, Martha welcomed Jesus into her home. Let us not miss that. Martha loved Jesus. She opened the door. She served. Her problem was not that she cared too much or worked too hard. The issue was that she became distracted by much serving. While Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and listened to His teaching, Martha was pulled in many directions.

Jesus answered her, “Martha, Martha.” Not with irritation, but with affection. It was the voice of a Saviour calling a beloved daughter back from the edge of exhaustion. “You are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary” (Luke 10:41–42). Mary had chosen the good portion: the presence of Jesus before the pressure of performance.

Distraction is not always evil. Often, it is simply too many good things competing for first place. It pulls our attention away from the One who gives life to everything else. The enemy does not always need to destroy us outright; sometimes he only needs to keep us busy enough that we stop sitting at the feet of Jesus.

There are many forms of distraction. There is the dazzle of temptation—the shiny substitute that promises satisfaction but leaves us emptier than before. Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness with self-provision, power, and pride. He offered bread without dependence, kingdoms without surrender, and recognition without humility. Yet Jesus refused every counterfeit because He knew the Father’s Word was more sustaining than anything the world could offer.

There is also the distraction of dialogue: the words we speak to others, and the words we repeat to ourselves. Our tongues are small, yet Scripture says they can direct the course of an entire life. When our inner narrative is full of fear, self-accusation, comparison, and hopelessness, we can become exhausted before we have even begun. But the voice of God does not drain us; it calls us into truth. He speaks identity over insecurity, hope over despair, and grace over shame.

Then there are the fears that tighten our souls: fear of people, fear of missing out, fear of making the wrong decision, fear of loss, fear of the future, and fear born from disappointment. Fear convinces us that we must control every outcome. It keeps our nervous systems on alert and our hearts clenched tight. Yet God never asked us to carry the responsibility of being God. He asks us to trust Him.

When disappointment settles in, it can become an offence that builds a fence around the heart. We may feel that God did not come through in the way we expected, or people did not honour us in the way we hoped. But even there, Jesus comes near. He is not threatened by our honest pain. He invites us to bring it into His presence, where bitterness can become healing and disappointment can become deeper trust.

Unchecked distraction leads to drift. Drifting is rarely deliberate. No one intends to drift from Jesus, from their marriage, from their family, from health, or from meaningful community. Drift happens passively. We stop paying attention. We stop pursuing. We stop participating. Hebrews warns us to pay close attention to what we have heard, “lest we drift away from it” (Hebrews 2:1).

Drift can look like watching rather than participating, criticising rather than contributing, yielding rather than enduring, striving rather than resting. We may still attend church, but our hearts have become distant. We may still be busy, but we are no longer drawing strength from the Source. We begin to work harder while praying less. We carry more while resting less. And eventually, the soul reveals what the schedule has concealed: we are weary.

But there is good news for the tired. Hebrews 4 declares that there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. This is not merely permission to stop moving; it is an invitation to stop labouring from self-reliance. God’s rest is the place where we cease trying to sustain ourselves and learn again to receive from Him.

Entering that rest takes intention. Scripture says, “Let us therefore strive to enter that rest” (Hebrews 4:11). This is the holy paradox: we must deliberately make room for rest in God. We must take a seat before we serve. We must open the Word before opening our phones. We must listen before we lead, pray before we push, and receive before we release.

The Word of God is living and active. It reaches beneath the surface, discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. It reveals what no scan, schedule, strategy, or conversation can fully uncover. Not to condemn us, but to heal us. The Word exposes what is draining us so that grace can restore us.

And when we come to Jesus, we do not come to someone detached from our weakness. We come to our great High Priest, who sympathises with us. He knows weariness. He knows temptation. He knows sorrow. Therefore, we can come boldly to the throne of grace and receive mercy and find grace for help in our time of need.

Maybe the most prophetic thing you can do this week is not add another task to your list. Maybe it is to take a seat. Open your Bible. Give God your first attention. Thank Him. Write down what He is saying. Return tomorrow, and the next day, and keep returning. The One thing is still necessary. Jesus is still the good portion. And in His presence, tired souls find strength again.