Fill ‘er Up
By Jeannine Sawall
“Man does not live by bread alone, but on
every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4
When
you drive a large vehicle and are pulling a big camper behind you, you need to
make frequent stops at the gas station to fill up the tank. Fortunately, the
car manufacturers decided to make things easy on drivers by putting a handy
little gauge right on the front panel to let you know when your tank is about
to run dry. If it wasn’t for that gas gauge, we’d have to guess how far we
could go before our tank was empty. I’m sure we’d have been stranded on the
side of the road more than once if it weren’t for that handy little gauge!
As
Christians, we also need to fill up our spiritual gas tanks on a daily basis.
In order to grow and mature, we need to make sure we are seeking to establish
our relationship with the Lord routinely.
Fortunately, the Lord has also given us a “gas gauge.” The Holy Spirit prompts us to spend time in
prayer, in the Word and in fellowship with other believers. He warns us when
we’re running dry. However, it seems
this gauge is a little easier to ignore since we won’t literally be left
sitting on the side of the road if we don’t stop to fill it up. However, spiritually,
we certainly can be left stranded. If we don’t stop to put the effort into our
relationship with the Lord, we stifle the work He wants to do through us. We
miss the blessing of having that relationship deepen and grow, and we won’t
have the resources necessary to sustain us through difficult times.
Oftentimes,
it’s easy to put off time with the Lord. We fill our tanks up with other
things, sometimes even good things. How often have we chatted with a friend,
gone shopping, read a book, gone to an exercise class, sat down for a bit and
watched a favorite show…and at the end of the day, we never sat with the Lord?
While it’s not always easy, we need to prioritize that time with our Father and
fill up on Him. He provides the spiritual gas necessary to walk this Christian
life. When we respond to the Holy Spirit’s prompting, we won’t run dry and we
won’t run out of time. He will fill us up and give us the power to do whatever
He calls us to.
GOING DEEPER:
1.
What do you fill up on?
2.
Have you established a regular quiet time alone with God? If not, make it a priority to establish one.
FURTHER READING:
Jeannine
is a wife and mother of four active boys. She works in property management and
is a part of the Special Events team for Oakwood’s We Women ministries.
