siDEVO: Runnin on ‘E’
Matthew 11:28-29 – “Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
While I was a student in college, I rarely allowed my gas tank to get below the half-full mark. I stayed fueled up for those sudden, unexpected events where having a full tank told me I could get to where I needed to be. If I had the cash, I would almost gas up daily. When my wife and I were dating, I found out she took a different approach to refilling her car. After a date night in downtown Shreveport, Louisiana, she asked me to drive her car back to the city we attended college in. As I started her car, the “You ‘bout to be broke down on the side of the road” gas light came on. We went off track, runnin’ the city on ‘E’, trying to find to one thing: a source of fuel.
For me personally, I know what it’s like to roll on empty all too well. At times, I didn’t go to the Throne of God for a full refill; I played the church role and found myself running off of the fumes of other believers. It became easy to run off of last weeks’ sermon, easy to say I prayed because I closed my eyes when someone else spoke to Jesus. Though admittedly spiritually deadly, I saw that it doesn’t require much fuel to stay in the same place. But I knew that stagnancy has no place in the Kingdom of God. With that little bit of vapor left in me, God allowed for me to use it to “Press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” (Philippians 3:14)
We’ve all been in that spot where it seems like if the tires spin one more time, we’re going to stall out. God desires you to come to Him when you feel like you just can’t make it anymore. In 2 Corinthians 12:8-9, Paul wrote the following while referring to the thorn in his flesh: “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’” That’s real talk! God simply desires for you to come to Him in order to find rest. Some of you haven’t filled up in a minute and for others, you’ve never found the source of Living Water. Trust in Him.
If you’re steady gliding through life filling your heart with the world, you’ll be getting no further than you would filling your gas tank with dirt. “But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)
