Tag Archives: Christianity

May 19, 2014 · 7:49 AM

You Are An Ironman

This weekend there was an Ironman race in our town. If you’re unfamiliar with an Ironman race, they start at 7:00 AM with a 2.4 mile swim, then they ride their bike for 112 miles and then run 26.2 miles. That’s a 140.6 mile race! Oh, and they have time limits for each portion of the race. To be qualified as an Ironman, you have to finish within those time frames. For the marathon run portion, you have to cross the finish line by midnight. That’s a 17 hour race if you’re keeping up with the math.

We had a friend racing in it so we thought we would go cheer her on at the finish line. I wasn’t prepared for that. It was an amazing experience to watch these Ironmen old and young, skinny and not so skinny cross the line. The music was pumping and the crowd was electric. Every time a runner would cross the line, the announcer would call out their name and say, “You are an Ironman!” The crowd would roar in celebration for that person. Some walked across the finish line, some limped, so ran faster, so took time to high five the crowd as they passed and some slowed down to take it all in and asked the crowd to cheer more.

As I was cheering, I thought about my own finish line in life. I thought, “This must be what it’s like when we die and go to Heaven. There must be a crowd of people cheering us across the finish line as the Father says our name and then says, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant!'” My mind also went to Hebrews 12:1 that says, “Since we are surrounded by a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.”

In a 140.6 mile race, I’m sure there are places in that race where there isn’t a crowd cheering you on. There are placed where it’s just them and the road. They’re going through the motions fighting a mental battle to push on. I’m sure there is every reason in the world to want to quit and only one reason to stay in the race. There are walls in their mind that they have to push through. There are times where they need water and sustenance to give their body energy to keep going. But there are times where someone hands them a drink, offers a nutritious bar and times where there is a crowd that cheers them on. But there’s nothing like the crowd at the finish line.

In our personal race, there are times you will face where no one is there to keep you going. There will be times when you have every reason to quit. There will be walls that you will face to try to stop you. You’ll need to drink from God’s Word. You’ll need supernatural food to sustain you along the way. God will send encourages along your path, but there will be nothing like crossing the finish line in Heaven. There will be music and a great crowd of witnesses cheering you home. You will hear the Father say your name and then, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” So keep pushing today. You aren’t in a sprint or even a marathon. This life is an Ironman race. You can make it.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:7, 8 NLT)

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May 16, 2014 · 7:05 AM

My Mentor Job

A friend of mine at “A Mike For Christ” recently asked a question that took me a while to answer. He asked, “Who in the Scriptures besides Jesus teaches you much, whether about God, spirituality, or your own humanity?” I’m not a person who like it when people give me the easy answer, so I don’t like to give the easy answer. A lot of names came to mind when I read the question, but I asked myself, “Which person in the Bible teaches me about all three?” I wondered if there was someone who gave me insight into God, what it means to be spiritual and taught me about my own humanity.

I came up with Job. You may say, “That’s an easy answer. Why didn’t you say Mephibosheth or someone like that?” Job I believe met all three criteria in my own personal life. He taught me a lot about who God is. One of the first things I learned about God is that He doesn’t cause the bad times in my life, but He allows them so that He can prove my faithfulness to Him. Satan went to God and pointed to Job’s righteousness. Satan told God that he only lived that way because of all the blessings. God responded in Job 1:12, “All right, you may test him,” the LORD said to Satan. “Do whatever you want with everything he possesses, but don’t harm him physically.” So Satan left the LORD’s presence (NLT).

Job also taught me about spiritual things. He proved that you could maintain your integrity in the most difficult of circumstances. Having lost his kids, his possessions, his money and everything precious to him, He fell to his knees and found cause to worship God. When his friends accused him of wrong doing, he did not flinch. When his wife told him to curse God and die, he responded with wisdom, “Shall we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?” When he had no reason to hope, to trust or the worship, he did all three because of his foundation found in his relationship with God.

He reminds me of my humanity later on in the book. God speaks to Job out of a whirlwind and asked him some tough questions like, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Do you know where the gates of death are? Can you direct the constellations through the seasons?” I’m reminded that God is in control and my feeble attempts to control my life are pointless. The things that happen can be a consequence of my behavior or they can be from God to prepare me for things that are coming. Either way, God has set them into motion and they are far too great for me to understand even if He answered my question of “Why”.

Job is the oldest book in the Bible and yet it still speaks to me. Every time I read it, I gain insight into who God is and how He sees me. I get challenged to live a life of worship. When hard times hit unexpectedly, they reveal what’s really on the inside. For job, that was worship and integrity. When life’s storms hit my shore, I look to Job for advice and proof that I can survive anything. He was human and he endured Satan’s worst attacks on his life. His humanity was exposed in the storm, but so was his foundation. I want to be that kind of follower of Christ. I want to have that sure of a foundation. I want God to be able to point at me and say, “Have you considered my servant Chris? He is blameless – a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil.” If Job did it, so can I.

Which person in Scripture does this for you?

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May 15, 2014 · 6:27 AM

Practicing God’s Truths

I played basketball on high school and every day after school we had practice. To get started, we’d do calisthenics to stretch our muscles and warm ourselves up. Then we would run to finish warming up. After that, coach would explain the plays we were going to work on. He would then grab the starting five to walk through it so everyone would know where they were supposed to be. He would interchange players from the bench so they would know where they fit into the play. Once we got it, we would do a full speed run through over and over until it was like clockwork.

There were lots of corrections once we got to full speed. He would blow his whistle, stop the play, make the correction for the person who messed up and then would explain to everyone what went wrong and why it had to be that way. Once we got that down pat, we would then bring in the second string players to be defensive stand ins. We would then practice with the obstacle of players standing in our way. Once we had the play down with them there, he unleashed them to move as real players. We then practiced with a live defense until we got it right.

As a kid, I didn’t understand why we practiced the plays so much. I didn’t understand why everything had to be perfect before we could move to the next level. Now I know that practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect. In practicing, we learned the ins and outs of everything that had to do with what we were learning. We learned what not to do and what to expect from our opponent, even an opponent who knew the play. We learned how to adapt and execute the play in order to win.

In Philippians 4:9, Paul urges us who are believers to “keep putting into practice all that you have learned and received from me.” He wants us as believers to practice what’s right. To practice putting the Gospel into action in our lives. He knew, like my coach, that one practice isn’t going to get you to perfect. You have to keep practicing what you’ve learned day in and day out. You have to perfect what you do so that it becomes second nature. You’ll know what to do when the enemy plays defense and tries to mess you up. You’ll be able to beat Him.

Jesus said in Luke 11:28, “But even more blessed are those who hear the Word of God and put it into practice.” He wanted us to practice putting God’s Word into action in our lives. That means keep trying even if you fail. Don’t give up when you mess up or can’t seem to get it right. Slow down, go back to a His Word and understand why He wants you to do things a certain way. Then put it into practice until you get it right. If you want to see growth, take one of God’s truths and start putting it into practices until you get it down pat. That can take a while so don’t give up in the process. You’ll get it, just keep practicing.

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May 14, 2014 · 7:03 AM

Changing Your Mind

I’ve started to read “Good to Great In God’s Eyes” by Chip Ingram. The book is for people who don’t want to be ordinary Christians. In the book there are ten practices that we can adopt as believers to live extraordinary lives in God’s eyes. He uses a lot of the techniques that I’ve learned in selling and management. I believe the Bible is full of men and women who lived great lives that set them apart and that you and I can live a life that would be worthy of writing about.

The first thing he talks about in the book is thinking great thoughts. He mentions that he doesn’t start with a physical action or attitude because true change starts in the mind. From all of my learning, I have found this practice to be true. In order to change a behavior in our lives, we first have to change how we think about it. You and I are creatures of habit, but we are not creatures who are stuck in our ways unless we believe that with our mind. If you want to change for the better, you have to believe that you can change.

How you think about something is what determines your feelings about it. How you feel about it determines your attitude about it. Your attitude then determines your behavior towards it. If you want to change your behavior towards something, you have to change your attitude. If you want to change your attitude, you have to change how you feel about it. If you want to change how you feel about it, you have to change your thoughts. You and I have the capability of changing our thought pattern over time.

Think about Romans 12:2. It says, “Do not be conformed to this world this age, fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs, but be transformed (changed) by the entire renewal of your mind by its new ideals and its new attitude, so that you may prove for yourselves what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect in His sight for you (AMP). Our transformation, our changing comes from the renewing of our mind. We renew our mind by renewing our thoughts. We renew our thoughts by being intentional about the thoughts we think.

It also says that when we renew our mind, we get a new attitude. When we get the new attitude, we will be able to prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. The Message says then you’ll “readily recognize what He wants from you and quickly respond to it. Your attitude will determine your action. You will begin to do the things that God wants you to do. You will begin to live the life a God wants you to live. You will start moving from a good, Christian life to a great Christian life. It all starts with the thoughts you think. If you want to change your life, change your thoughts.

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May 13, 2014 · 7:42 AM

Times Of Rain

Rain is something we need, but don’t really want. We associate it with bad. It started when we were children singing the song, “Rain, Rain, go away. Come again another day.” Rain disrupts the times of sunshine and happiness. When it’s rainy outside, we say it’s gloomy. We think of the gray clouds and we think of depression. It changes our path, our timing and our plans. It messes things up for us so we resist it. We forget that rain is a necessary part of life. We forget the good that it does.

I’ve got several friends right now who are experiencing rain in their lives. Several friends have had loved ones pass away unexpectedly. I’ve got a couple of friends who can’t seem to find a job. I’ve got a few friends whose lives have been turned upside down because of choices their spouse made. For them, it seems like the rain just keeps coming. It feels like their lives are being flooded with negative things. Matthew 5:45 came to mind. It says, “It rains on the just and the unjust.”

I’ve read or heard that scripture my whole life. I was always under the impression that it just meant that bad things happen to Christians and non Christians alike because I associated rain with bad times. When I read it in context and then in several versions and interpretations of the original Greek, the Message Bible stood out. It said, “This is what God does. He gives His best – the sun to warm and the rain to nourish – to everyone regardless.” The times of rain in our lives are meant to nourish us. Just like our yards, lakes and crops need rain for nourishment, so do our lives.

When bad things happen, it usually pushes us closer go God. We spend more time in prayer. We take the time to talk to God and to read His Word to try to find answers. Days of sunshine rarely push us to spend time with God. When we go so long without rain or without spending time with a God, we enter a desert. God knows that we need rain. Of course, with lots of rain, it starts to flood. Jesus told a parable about that. He said the wise man built his house upon the rock so that when the rains came down and the floods went up, his house would stand firm.

What’s your house built on? The one way to test it is with lots of rain. If your faith erodes when the floods come, you’ve built your house on sand. The good news is that of that’s the case, God is there to help you rebuild your life after laying a firm foundation. If the floods came and have damaged your house, but your foundation is firm, God will be there when the rain leaves to help you make repairs. Either way, the rain should drive you closer to God and nourish your spirit. Times of rain are painful, but needed. Don’t run from them.

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May 8, 2014 · 7:55 AM

The Mom Who Was MVP

This week Kevin Durant, of the NBA’s Oklahoma Thunder, won the league MVP. In his 25 minute speech, he thanked coaches and other players by name and told how they has helped him. The room was captivated. Then, through tears, he turned to his mom and thanked her. He told how she was a single mom raising two boys. He told how they had to move from apartment to apartment sometimes with no furniture or beds. He told how she did what it took to make ends meet and even kept him off the streets. He then looked at her, with tears in his eyes, and said, “You’re the real MVP.”

I don’t know why, but listening to his speech reminded me of the widow woman in I Kings 17 that Elijah approached. He had been camping out by a brook and ravens had been bringing him food. Because of the drought, the brook dried up. God told him to go to a nearby town and that a widow would feed him. As he traveled he became both thirsty and hungry. He had worked up quite an appetite by the time he arrived at the town. As he walked up to the city gate, he saw a widow gathering sticks. He called out to her to bring him a drink. As she turned to get the water jug, he added, “And bring me some bread too.”

The motherly instinct kicked in now. She didn’t mind getting this stranger water. There was plenty of it, but the bread was a different story. She let him know that she barely had enough for one meal. She was going to feed it to her son and then they were going to die of starvation. Her son must have been pretty young. He wasn’t out gathering sticks for her. She was gathering the sticks, she was going to build the fire, she was going to cook and she was going to share it with him. I’m sure she had played out their death a thousand times. This last bit of bread represented hope. It represented one more day of life and now this stranger was asking for it.

Being the good mom she was, she explained why she couldn’t give up their last meal. But Elijah spoke to her and gave her a promise from God. He told her not to be afraid and that God would cause there to be flour and oil in her jars until the rains came and crops were produced. She had to make a choice. Was this man really from God? Were his words really what God said? What if I give our last meal to him and God doesn’t come through? I’m sure there were lots of doubts and scenarios going through her mind. In the end, she went for the long term solution versus the short term gain. She gave up everything for her son in order to trust God to help them live.

So many moms out there are faced with life and death decisions like this widow. They choose not to eat so their kids can. They don’t know where the next meal will come from. They work, but it seems like it’s not enough. The widow showed that if we continue to work, but also do all that God asks, He will provide. He will make a way where there seems to be no way. I know several people who have been to this desperate point. They trusted God and miraculously groceries showed up on their door step, someone paid for their groceries at the store, or money came in from seemingly no where. Moms who trust God when there seems to be no way are the real MVP’s of this life.

Once I was young, and now I am old. Yet I have never seen the godly abandoned or their children begging for bread. (Psalms 37:25 NLT)

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May 7, 2014 · 7:48 AM

The Mom Who Believed

Have you ever told a true story to someone who didn’t believe you? That what happened to Gabriel. Zachariah was carrying out his priestly duties working his assigned shift at the Temple. He was chosen by lot to be the one who entered the sanctuary to burn incense. While he was in there alone, Gabriel appeared next to the smoke. He told Zachariah that the prayers for a child that he and Elizabeth had prayed were heard by God and that they would have a son named John. After Gabriel spoke prophetically about John, Zachariah said, “Do you expect me to believe this? I am an old man and my wife is an old woman.”

After hearing that, Gabriel made Zachariah mute until the child was born. When he returned home, I’m sure he motioned to Elizabeth about why he couldn’t speak. It was clear later, that they had communicated about this. Elizabeth believed the message from God. She had long prayed for a child and now God was answering her prayers. Even though she felt like she was beyond child bearing years, she had the faith to keep praying for a child. God honored her faith and answered when she could only believe it was Him. He proved to her that nothing is impossible to Him and it’s never too late to answer a prayer.

Gabriel also met with Mary about Jesus’ birth. While talking to her, he told her about Elizabeth’s pregnancy. Mary rushed to see Elizabeth. When she entered the house, the baby and Elizabeth were filled with the Holy Spirit according to Luke 1:41. Elizabeth then prophesied over Mary. One of the things she said is good for each of us to hear. In verse 45 she said, “Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of the things that were spoken to her from The Lord.” God speaks to many of us about what He wants to do in our lives. As we get older, and time goes by, we quit believing what a God spoke to us.

Elizabeth reminds us that when God speaks a promise, we are blessed to keep believing it no matter how much time goes by. We choose to believe that it’s too late for God to move, act or fulfill His promise or we choose to believe that nothing is impossible. Elizabeth chose to keep praying even though the mirror told her she was too old. She kept believing even though history told her she was beyond the time for pregnancy. She kept trusting God’s promise instead of the reports she got from the doctors. She reminds us that those who can believe through all of that are blessed.

When her son was born, the people wanted to name him after his father as the tradition was. She rejected what her neighbors and community thought she should do and insisted on doing what the angel told her husband. The neighbors then went to Zachariah since she wouldn’t budge. Surely he wanted the honor of having his child named after him. When they asked him, he wrote on a tablet, “His name is John.” Immediately he could speak. The first words out of his mouth were blessings, praise and thanksgiving to God. He didn’t praise God because his tongue was loosed. He blessed God because He had answered his prayer.

Today, let your tongue loose to praise God even before you get your answer. Trust Him to be faithful to His promise to you. He has not forgotten what He said He would do. He will fulfill it in His time so that you will know that it was all God and no one else’s doing. God doesn’t care whys the doctors have said. He doesn’t base His promise on what family history says. He doesn’t even care what everyone else says. He cares about you and the promise He made. He cares that you keep believing in the hard times, through the dark nights and when all else fails. His word will not return void. He will do what He said He would if you believe.

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May 6, 2014 · 8:00 AM

The Mom Who Risked It All

Today, I want to take a closer look at the mother of Moses. The Bible doesn’t say a whole lot about her, but her actions speak volumes. We know that she and her husband were Levites which was the priestly lineage of Israel. Moses, being born to them would be a priest. He would serve in the role unlike any other. His work was not only in the sanctuary, but also he served outside of it as a leader of the people. He led them out of physical bondage as well as spiritual bondage.

I wonder what it was about him that his mother saw. The scripture says in Exodus 2 that when he was born, “she saw that he was a special baby.” My hope is that most mom’s would look at their baby’s and see something special about them. For so e reason, the Bible calls out that there was something different about him. There was something worth risking their lives for. The Pharaoh had given the order that every newborn, Hebrew boy should be tossed into the Nile river. Anyone who defied the Pharaoh would surely be punished.

Another thing Moses’ mom did was to keep him hidden for three months. She did what she could to protect her baby. She was somehow able to keep him a secret from everyone. Every mom has a God-given instinct to protect their children. Mom’s do what they can to protect their own. It’s a special gift that shouldn’t be over looked. Mom’s are the protectors. When a child is scared, they call out for mom. When a child is hurt, they cry out for mom. Moses’ mom was just like any other mom out there, she wanted to be her child’s protector.

When she could no longer keep it quiet that she had a little boy, she had to make a tough decision. She had to let go of her prize possession in order to save him. She knew when it was time to let go. She built a floating basket big enough for her 3 month old, laid him in it and put it in the Nile. She knew her daughter was small enough to hide in the reeds, so she sent her to follow the baby until he was safe. She knew that Pharaoh lived just down stream from them and if he saw or heard the baby, he would kill him.

It just so happened that Pharaoh’s daughter was going to take a bath in the river at the same time Moses was floating by. She didn’t have her father’s heart. She had a mother’s heart that broke when she heard the baby crying and saw him. She must have seen what his birth mother saw and she decided to adopt him. When the sister saw he would be safe with her, she approached the princess. She asked if she would like her to find a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby for her. When she brought back Moses’ mom, the princess agreed to pay her to nurse and raise the boy until he was weaned.

God does so e mysterious things, especially for mom’s. I believe they hold a special place in His heart. Stories like this one rarely mention the father. Some of the greatest leaders of the Bible were heavily influenced by their mom. In this case, Moses had the influence of his birth mom who instilled his heritage in him. He also had his adoptive mother who kept him save until the time came for him to step into that priestly role. The Israelites needed a leader. They needed someone to rescue them from slavery and they found that in Moses. History changed not just because of Moses, but also because his mom risked everything for his survival.

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May 2, 2014 · 7:50 AM

Robbed At Gunpoint

It’s Free Friday! Today is the day you let go of the things in your life that keep you down or hold you back from all God has for you. To celebrate, I’m giving away a copy of “Hurt Healer: reaching out to a broken world” by Tony Nolan. Keep reading to find out how to enter.

I was driving out in the middle of nowhere when I came to a four way stop intersection. I looked to my left for oncoming traffic and then to my right. When I looked right, there was a man standing there with a gun up to the window. He demanded my car. My first thought was to punch it. He must have seen the look in my eyes. He said, “If you hit the gas, I’ll shoot. Put it in park and get out.” What could I do? I got out. He walked around the car and hit me in face with his gun. He then punched me in the stomach and when I bent over, he kneed me in the face. I don’t remember much after that.

I woke up in the middle of the road at this intersection not knowing really where I was. I was covered in blood and hurt all over. I could barely move. I reached for my phone, but it was gone. There was no one for miles. I passed out again from the pain. I woke up to the sound of a car coming. I could hear the tires hum against the pavement. As he slowed down, he moved out of the lane I was laying in. Finally, I had hope as he pulled up next to me. He sat up in his car to look out his passenger side window and see me. It took everything in me to say, “Help,” but it came out as a whisper.

He turned his head back to the road ahead of him and started driving off. I remember seeing a fish on the back of his car and a bumper sticker that said, “God is my co-pilot”. I tried to say, “I’m a Christian too,” but he was gone and I didn’t have the strength. I laid my head back down and waited. My mind began to wonder what would happen if a wild animal came up to me. How would I defend myself? As my mind ran with all these scenarios, I heard another car coming. I began to hope again and tried to turn on my side. It hurt so badly, but I was able to do it.

This man was wearing a suit and was in a nice car. He was in the lane next to me because I was still in the road. I tried to wave to get his attention, but he didn’t even look my way. He was willing to go around me, but not look at me. I began to cry as he drove off. Every time my body moved as I tried to catch my breath, it hurt even more. I’m not sure if I was crying from the pain, the disappointment or the fear of dying there on the road. The sun was going down and so were my dreams of being rescued. I knew if it got dark, the chances of someone seeing me before they hit me were minimal. I prepared for the worst.

As it got dark, I could hear music far off. As it got closer, I could tell it was heavy metal. It was loud and over powered the sound of the car’s engine. As it got closer, I just knew this guy was going to hit me. I saw the headlights coming right for me and his hands beating the steering wheel. I thought, “This is it. I’m going to get killed by a punk after all this.” At the last second he swerved and hit his brakes. The car came to a screeching halt. He jumped out and ran over to me. “Are you ok, dude?” I could barely talk. He picked me up, put me in his car and drove me to a local doctor’s house.

The doctor took care of me, and nursed me back to health over a few weeks. When I was finally able to leave, I asked what did I owe him. He politely said, “Nothing. The guy that brought you in gave me his credit card and told me to charge it all to him.” I protested, but he wouldn’t let me pay. I asked about overages too. He said the guy told me that when he came back through here, he’d pay anything else that the card didn’t cover. I was shocked. Of all the people I thought should help me that day, it was the one I least expected.

Hopefully, by now you recognize my story as the parable of the Good Samaritan told through the eyes of the victim. How many hurting people do we drive by each day? They may not be physically beat up and laying in the road, but they are mentally and spiritually beat up and laying in our path. They call to us for help, but we look away or worse, see them and then ignore them. This world is full of broken people who need a neighbor, who need someone to show mercy and need help getting back up. It’s our responsibility as Christians to be the ones who extend grace and mercy even to the ones we don’t like or have nothing in common with. That’s what being a Christian should be about. Today, let’s get free of religiosity and pride. Let’s get our hands dirty helping others.

If you would like to win “Hurt Healer” by Tony Nolan, all you have to do is go to my Facebook page here and “like” it. I will randomly pick one person tomorrow (May 3, 2014) who has liked my page. If you have already liked my page and enjoy reading these daily devotionals, you are already entered. Please invite your friends to like my page so they can receive encouragement from God’s Word too.

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May 1, 2014 · 7:43 AM

Living On “E”

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This morning I almost had to do the walk of shame. You know the one when your car runs out of gas and you have to walk to the gas station. As you can see from the photo, I was below the “E”. I was running late last night getting home from work. There was no time to stop because we had to be at church minutes after I got home. So I passed several gas stations knowing I needed gas because the other priorities were more important. You might be thinking that getting gas in the tank is the highest priority, and you’re right.

If it is the highest priority then why do we wait so long to fill up? The same thing happens to us spiritually. We run on empty until we are almost out and then we go fill up. I know when I fill up my car, there isn’t much to worry about. I can concentrate on the parts of driving that matter. When I’m on empty, I’m completely distracted looking at that indicator and wondering just how much further below the “E” it can go before I run out. I start looking for places to fill up. I start looking at every exit hoping to see a sign. I even start to panic a little.

The same thing happens in our spiritual life. When we are full, we don’t have a care in the world. We concentrate on living our lives the way a God wants, there aren’t many distractions and we put on cruise control with no worries. Sooner or later, we need a refill though. We miss a few Sundays at church, we get too busy to read our Bible and sleep through our prayer time. Things in our life start coming apart. We start looking for God to help us. We need Him to fill us up. People around us need our help, but we are too distracted on empty to notice.

It’s tough living like that, but so many times that how we live. We spend our lives running on empty. We rarely take the time to get full. We might get a quarter of a tank here and a quarter there, but we never get full. It boils down to priorities. You might be thinking that getting has in your spiritual tank is the highest priority, and you’re right. It is, but we don’t treat it as such. We let other things in our lives take over until we run out. When we reach that point where we can’t go on, we get stuck.

My father in law has a different approach to gas. He never let’s his tank get below half. If he gets to half, he says he’s on empty. We can all adopt this approach spiritually. Recognize when you’re no longer full and make it your priority to read God’s Word. Cut out something in your day so you can pray without distractions. Push back those plans so you can attend church. If you don’t make it a priority, everything else will take it’s place and you’ll end up distracted on “E”. We’ve already agreed that filling up is the highest priority. Look at your tank today. What do you need to do to fill up?

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