Jesus said, “Teach them to obey everything that I have commanded you.”

That invitation in Matthew 28:20 continues to guide this series. We have been asking what it looks like to follow the teaching of Jesus in the ordinary places where we work, lead, decide, build, and carry responsibility.

So far, we have reflected on work as a place of discipleship, on loving neighbour in business relationships, on leadership as service, on the sacred weight of keeping our word, on making disciples by helping others grow into leadership, and on seeking God’s Kingdom first in the middle of ambition, opportunity, and pressure.

This week, I want to sit with another question:

What is your pace producing?

Stretching is not bad.

In fact, for entrepreneurs and leaders, stretching is often part of the calling. We take risks. We step into the unknown. We grow. We carry responsibility we did not yet know how to carry. A life with no stretch at all is not maturity. It is often stagnation.

Sometimes if we stay in the green all the time — only doing what is familiar, manageable, and comfortable — our actual capacity begins to shrink. The space gets smaller. The things outside it feel bigger. We become easier to overwhelm, not harder.

So the goal is not comfort.

The goal is growth.

But there is a difference between stretching and living overheated.

There is a difference between a demanding season and a permanently overloaded life.

And good leaders eventually learn that not everything on the table can stay on the table.

That is not merely clever management advice. It is deeply connected to the teaching and way of Jesus.

Jesus said:

“Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.”
John 15:2

That is such an important word for leaders.

Pruning means that even good things may need to be cut back. Not because they are bad. Not because they have no value. But because more is not always more fruitful.

Sometimes the most spiritual decision a leader can make is not adding something, but removing something.

Taking one more meeting. Launching one more initiative. Saying yes to one more opportunity. Carrying one more responsibility. These things may all sound impressive for a while. But if everything remains urgent and everything remains important, eventually we stop being led by purpose and begin to be driven by demand.

And then there is FOMO.

Fear of missing out can make every opportunity feel like the opportunity. Every invitation feels important. Every open door feels as though it must be walked through. Every good idea starts to feel urgent.

But not every good thing is yours to carry.

Jesus did not live that way.

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus withdrew to pray. When His disciples found Him, they told Him that everyone was looking for Him.

And yet He did not simply return to the crowd’s agenda.

“Let us go on to the neighbouring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.”
Mark 1:38

Jesus was not rude. He was not careless. He was not avoiding people.

He was clear.

He did not allow urgency to define calling.

That matters for us.

Many leaders do not burn out because they are lazy or uncommitted. They burn out because they care deeply, say yes too quickly, stay available too constantly, and quietly assume that every need belongs to them.

Christian entrepreneur Bridgett Moore speaks very honestly about learning this the hard way. After more than 23 years in business, she describes how hustle culture, striving, people-pleasing, and the constant push to keep up eventually contributed to burnout. She says she had believed success meant striving harder and keeping pace with the world’s way of doing business, but eventually realized that kind of pursuit was pulling her away from peace. Her shift was not to abandon entrepreneurship or ambition, but to begin creating rhythms that honoured both her calling and her life.

I like that story because it does not make entrepreneurship the villain.

Stretching was not the problem.

Striving without rhythm was.

And that brings us directly back to Jesus.

He said:

“Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.”
Mark 6:31

That does not sound like a leader who glorifies constant overextension.

Jesus understands rhythm.

In fact, one of my favourite invitations from Jesus is this:

“Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.”
Matthew 11:29 (MSG)

I love that phrase: the unforced rhythms of grace.

Jesus is not inviting us into a life without effort. He is inviting us into a different way of carrying effort. A life where work does not have to be driven by anxiety, proving ourselves, people-pleasing, FOMO, or the belief that everything depends on us.

The alternative to running hot is not disengagement.

It is learning the unforced rhythms of grace.

This is why learning to say no matters so much.

And again, this comes directly from Jesus’ teaching:

“Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No.’”
Matthew 5:37

Sometimes the problem is not that we say yes to bad things. We say yes to too many good things.

We say yes because we want to help. We say yes because we do not want to disappoint people. We say yes because the opportunity seems meaningful. We say yes because FOMO whispers that we may never get another chance. We say yes because we are afraid of what will happen if we do not.

But a truthful no may be one of the most loving things a leader can offer.

No, not now.

No, not this season.

No, I cannot carry that well.

No, that is good, but it is not first.

No, if I keep adding without pruning, I will not remain fruitful.

Good leaders prioritize because Jesus prioritized.

Good leaders sometimes take something off the table because Jesus taught pruning.

Good leaders learn to say no because Jesus did not surrender His life to every demand.

And good leaders pay attention to fruit because Jesus said:

“Each tree is known by its own fruit.”
Luke 6:44

That gives us a better diagnostic than simply asking, “How busy am I?”

The better question is:

What is this pace producing in me?

Is it producing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control?

Or is it increasingly producing irritability, anxiety, shortness, harshness, numbness, hurry, and a thinning ability to be present?

Paul later names the fruit of life in the Spirit in those familiar words — love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. But even before Paul gives us those words, Jesus has already taught us to look at the fruit.

The fruit tells the truth.

Sometimes the people closest to us can see that truth before we can.

A spouse notices we are no longer really present. A child feels that our mind is somewhere else. A colleague experiences us as hurried, sharp, or unavailable. A friend hears strain in our voice that we have normalized.

Listening to the people who love us is not weakness. It may be one of the ways grace reaches us.

Because when a leader lives too hot for too long, the issue is not only tiredness.

It is formation.

A demanding season may stretch us.

A permanently overheated life may begin to deform us.

That is why abiding matters so much in Jesus’ teaching.

“I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit.”
John 15:5

Fruitfulness does not come from frantic striving.

It comes from abiding.

From staying rooted.

From receiving life before trying to produce outcomes.

That does not make us passive. It makes us alive in the right way.

So perhaps the question for this week is not simply whether you are working hard.

Perhaps it is this:

What kind of fruit is my current pace producing in me, in the people I lead, and in the people I love?

That question may expose something.

It may also free something.

Perhaps there is something to prune.

Perhaps there is a no you need to say.

Perhaps there is a rest you need to receive.

Perhaps there is a loved one you need to listen to.

And perhaps this is not Jesus calling you to become less committed, but more rooted.

Not less ambitious, but less driven.

Not less fruitful, but more deeply alive.

Reflection Questions

1. Am I in a season of healthy stretching, or have I been living overheated for too long?
2. What is my current pace producing in me — love, peace, patience, and presence, or anxiety, irritability, hurry, and depletion?
3. Is there something good that may need to be pruned in order for something more fruitful to remain?
4. Where do I need to say a truthful no, even to a good opportunity?
5. Is FOMO keeping something on my plate that no longer belongs there?
6. What are the people closest to me noticing about my pace that I may have been ignoring?
7. What might it look like for me to learn the unforced rhythms of grace this week instead of simply pushing harder?

From the series Working the Jesus Way, Learning to Follow Christ in Business, Leadership, and Everyday Work