Fill Me

Ever heard one of those lessons that you seem to have to learn over and over again? Particularly a lesson that costs you the first time, yet you still have to learn it more than once? Maybe a mild lesson of this sort would be that you shouldn't stay out past 1 a.m. when you have a full schedule (starting with an 8 a.m. class) the next day.

Well, I have. In fact, I've been relearning a lesson this week. The sad thing: it's the second time in the last three months that I've had to learn this lesson. And the last time wasn't the first time either. This might only be the second time I've experienced it at this magnitude, but I have lost count of how many times I've had to go through it.

And what makes it even harder to admit that I've had to relearn it again... It's a simple lesson.

I can't run on empty.

It's an easy concept right? When a car runs out of gas it dies. When a runner has no more energy, he stops. Pretty easy to understand. So why is it so hard to apply?

Let's look at this way. If the driver knows his car will die if he or she doesn't put more gas in it, why doesn't he or she put more gas in it? There could be a few reasons. Maybe he's in a hurry and is hoping the gas will last him until he gets to his destination and back to the gas station. Maybe she's out of money and doesn't think she can afford to pay the high price of gas. Maybe he's on a long road trip and passes the last gas station for miles thinking he has enough gas to get to the next one.

Now, let's look at the consequences of these actions. For the man who's in a hurry, what happens? He gets to his destination, but just barely. When it's time to leave and go to the next place, he can't start the car and is late getting everywhere else he is supposed to go that day. How about the woman who doesn't think she has enough money to pay for gas? She gets stuck on the side of the highway and has to call a tow truck, another expense on top of paying for a full tank of gas anyway. What about the guy on the road trip? He gets five miles out of town and has to turn around and walk back to fill up his gas can, only to have to turn the car around long enough to get to the gas station and fill it up again.

How does this apply to my life? I don't have a car, and I've never run out of gas when I was driving. But you see, time alone with Jesus, soaking up His Love is, is my "gas," my "fuel." And even if you don't know it yet, it's yours too.

God wants to spend time with us. Because He Loves us. So He made us so that we would need to spend time with Him too. And we need daily refueling.

We just let so many things get in the way. We get in a hurry, so we don't stop long enough to listen to His voice, to listen to Him telling us He Loves us. We try to save our time by not having quality time with Him. Guess what that means. We stress out more than we did in the first place which just makes us take longer getting done with everything else we need to get done. When we pass up a chance to receive His Love, it often seems to take too long getting to the next natural opportunity, and we have to make the time.

We can't do what God asks to do when we're running on empty. We can't show people His Love without being filled with it ourselves. We can't keep doing His work without the spiritual energy to do so. Loving others, working for God, those things require a continuous pouring out.

And when we're pouring out, we must continuously be refilling. Spending time with Him. Listening to His voice. Thanking Him for the gifts He gives us. Acknowledging the things He does for us. Letting Him wrap us in His arms. Letting Him speak your Love language and taking the time to listen to Him as He does so.

I promise, it's worth it.