Running on Empty

I think it is pretty safe to say that you are like me. No, I'm not saying that you are bald and growing a beard. What I am assuming is that you are like me because you are busy. Life gets pretty crazy with all of the stuff that we are doing, especially this time of the year as we celebrate the holidays by doing even more than we usually do. We don't have to work very hard at filling up our calendar, often times it fills itself up with all sorts of activities, games, meetings, events, gatherings, projects, etc. On the rare day/night that we don't have anything going on, we tend to either fill it up with things we have been meaning to do but haven't gotten around to or perhaps we plop down and veg out. At least that's what I do, between all of the things filling up my schedule, I tend to do a lot of nothing.

With all of that, I have come to realize that lately I have had to make time for God. I am doing it backwards! I shouldn't be making time for God, I should be taking time with God. It sounds pretty similar but really is quite different.

Remember when you were a teenager and the last thing you wanted to spend money on was gas for your car or you simply just didn't have very much money for gas? So what happened? If you were like me, you would put $5 - $10 in the tank (back when that would get you close to 5-10 gallons) and that would last you a few days. The problem was, you would be back at the gas station every couple of days getting gas again. As a teenager you didn't really think about or even care that you would also get less mileage out of the gas you were buying. A car gets better mileage when the gas tank is full.

We often have the same mentality with our spiritual life. We get just enough of God to get us through the next thing. But, I don't want to get just little bits of God that get me through the next thing, instead I want to be filled up. Like my gas mileage, my heart improves when I am filled up. Going through life with the needle constantly hovering around "E" is not what God wants or offers. He offers so much more. If you had the opportunity to have a gas card that had never ending money on it, wouldn't you fill up every time you went to the gas station? You also probably wouldn't wait until you were empty to get more. We have that opportunity with God but we have to stop making time for God and instead, take time with God.