| 1:59 MIN READ |

Have you ever run out of gas in your automobile? Some folks are notorious avoiders when it comes to visiting a gas station. They keep driving as long as possible. They drive on, even after the needle on their gas gauge reaches empty. They push the edge of the fuel envelope, refusing to fill up until the very last mile or minute. Sometimes they’re forced to re-fill after they stall on the roadside, completely out of gas!

While most people operate their vehicles with more caution and prudence, many of us push the edge of the envelope when it comes to our spiritual and emotional fuel. We run around on empty tanks. We’re constantly risking a stall out because we haven’t learned how to refuel, or we refuse to take the time and invest the effort to do so. It’s a dangerous way to live.

When spiritual and emotional resources are depleted, lots of bad things can happen. When your spiritual and emotional tanks are empty, you make bad decisions. In these moments you’re more vulnerable to temptation, more prone to distraction, and more likely to fill your tank with the wrong fuel.

Spiritually and emotionally drained people often attempt to fill their tanks with unhealthy relationships, destructive substances, food-binges, excessive entertainment and activities, and a variety of other things. The results of these choices are short-term highs, followed by increased emptiness. This can become a cycle of frustration, pain, and defeat.

The first step to breaking any negative cycle is seeing and admitting it. Look at the prayer the psalmist prayed in Psalms 19:13 (TPT) “Keep cleansing me, God, and keep me from my secret, selfish sins; may they never rule over me! For only then will I be free from fault and remain innocent of rebellion.” David understood that seeing his sins was the beginning point for overcoming them.

How about you? In what ways are you trying to fill your spiritual and emotional tanks? Are they healthy or unhealthy?

Pastor Dale

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