Running on empty

A little while back we had a bit of a petrol (gas) crisis here in the UK and one evening I ended up in queue for some.  At one point, three guys from the car ahead of me, jumped out of their vehicle and had to push their car the remainder of the way to the pump.   For them, their car had clearly been running on empty and had finally given up.

As I have been chatting to many people, there's a common thread I've found that has been more obvious since the lockdown, and that is that there are a lot of Christians who have been running on empty, the lockdown is the thing that caused them to finally run out of gas. 

The bible tells us in Ephesians 5:18 that we are to "be filled with Spirit".   There's a couple of things that are really interesting about that.  Firstly, BE FILLED is a command.  That means as Christian being filled with his spirit isn't an option.  Secondly the verb FILL is a continual action, it's not a one time act, so it could read "Be filled, and keep on being filled..."

The word FILLED also is powerful.  It means  to literally cram and to satisfy.  That's worth a moment to let it sink in!

When God tells you to do something, you know it is important.  God wants us to live a life that doesn't involve running on empty.  When you let your car run out of petrol you can damage certain parts of the car and if you're driving at the time, it can cause you to panic, to be stressed and all sorts.  Just like the car, we need to be filled with God's spirit in order to make sure that nothing breaks down and we stay at peace.  The Holy Spirit in us has physical benefits on our bodies, our minds and most importantly, he strengthens and empowers us to live our daily lives.

We can't live an effective life on empty, we can't keep trying to push it when there's nothing left.  That will never end well.     Don't let yourself get to that little red light!   

Today, if that's you, you need to make some changes.  Fill up, create space every day to fill up.  Pause frequently in your day to be filled, to live filled.  

Happy Saturday.

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