Recently I heard the following phrase coined during the Jesus Movement of the 1960 and ‘70’s that helped motivate a generation of Jesus followers:

“I’d rather burn out for Jesus than rust out.”

I know the heart behind the phrase was one of excitement and joy at being able to do great things for God, but I have to myself if burning out is really what Jesus want us to do….

Think about it, a match flares up big and bright when first lite before running out of fuel and oxygen. For a short time it is powerful, but I wouldn’t want to carry a match into a dark cave! Instead I would want a lamp or something that would burn slow and steady, giving me plenty of time to accomplish my task.

All too often we hear about new pastors or evangelists (or dare I say ‘believers’ in general?) who burst onto the Christian scene burning brightly only to crash and burn a few years later. Yes, they accomplished a lot of ‘stuff’ during their time – but was it worth it? Did they really make that much of a difference in discipling and teaching people to follow Jesus with everything they are?

As I reflected on these questions, I was reminded of an old International Harvester Farmall H tractor my grandfather had when I was a kid. Being a dairy farmer he used it for just about everything: hauling hay bales, cutting hay, balling hay, scraping manure, spreading manure, moving manure (hay and manure – the hallmarks of a dairy!), grinding corn, etc….  Even after he ‘upgraded’ his haying equipment to a trio of Case 930s he continued to use that old tractor.

The crazy thing was that Farmall H tractor was more of a rust bucket than a tractor. Yet for some reason it working year after year despite the weather, abuse and/or neglect.  It was just plain dependable and would do what every you wanted it to do.  Basically it accomplished the task it was built for, or, in other words, it finished well.

That’s how I want to be.

I want to keep on following Jesus day after day after day, year after year after year, decade after decade after decade. I want to be a dependable friend of Jesus – you know the kind, the ones you would call in the middle of the night when you ran out of gas on the road. Or the one you call when you just want to hang out.

I want to be a long term follower of Jesus who finishes well. Yes, it would be nice if I had a long list of title behind my name or fancy accomplishments to brag about…but in the end when we stand before Jesus the only thing that really matters is whether or not we listened and obeyed Him all of our days.

In other words, did we rust out for Jesus over years of service? Or did we just burn bright for a second and then fade away into darkness once again?