Departing from Serving the Lord?

I had an interesting discussion before church this morning.  Someone was walking into the church, and he said to the ushers that he went to church for fifty years, and he was tired of serving.  The lady sitting in front of me overheard that, and she remarked that one should never get tired of serving the Lord.  Sure, she acknowledged that one may need a vacation, but she said that a person should get back into the game after the rest.  If a person departs from serving the Lord, that indicates that the person’s relationship with God is off, she was saying.  She also stated that God sustains people who are serving him through difficulties.

My reaction to what she was saying was rather mixed.  She’s decades older than I am, so, while deep down there was skepticism within me about the truth of what she was saying, I was hesitant to dismiss it.  I tend to identify with pastors who leave the ministry and never look back.  But to depart from serving the Lord?  Let me say this: I don’t believe that a person should depart from trying to do good.  And, in my opinion, doing good can take places within the service of the church, but also outside of it.

But what if a person is burned-out?  I think that people in that situation should remind themselves of the importance of what they are doing.  And I believe that turning to spiritual resources—-prayer, fellowship, etc.—-can strengthen a person, too.