Life On E

I cannot tell you the last time I had my car filled up to more than half a tank. And honestly, it’s rarely above a quarter of a tank. Even with my regular commute to work, it’s not uncommon for me to get in my car with the gas light on. In fact, I have learned that I can usually last three-four days once the gas light is on. It has become a symbol for how I live my life; one day at a time with little to nothing in the tank.

I don’t think I’m the only person who lives like this (in fact, I have a roommate who does the same thing). It’s really not that bad of a strategy either because I would rather spend money on food and women (minus the women) than I would on gasoline. I keep enough in my car to just get by, and that’s good enough for me. Also, there’s something about having no gas in the car that brings a little adrenaline rush with it too. It’s kind of this “life on the edge” thing where you could run out of gas at any moment and have to fend for yourself on the side of the road. It may sound dumb, but don’t knock it until you try it.

However, I’ve watched how this has translated into my spiritual life. Basically, I’m learning that I live week by week with God. I have enough quiet times during the week to get through each day, which gets me to church on Sunday where I can “refuel” for the week. Then when I get to church I get the equivalent of a quarter of a tank of gas, and I do my best to make that last all week.

In Psalm 23 God promises to fill our cups until they overflow (23:5) and in Ephesians we are instructed to “be filled with the spirit” (5:18).

I don’t live like that. My cup is never filled. It always has just enough

I guess the challenge here for myself and for anyone reading this is pretty simple. Are you asking God to fill you up, or are you asking for just enough to get by? Our lives were not made for us to just get by. That’s not what God wants for us. He wants us to live to our full potential, and a life on E is not reaching its full potential.

If you’re like me you know that when the car is on E eventually you’re going to run out of gas. It’s inevitable. All of sudden the car just stops, and you have to do your best to get to the side of the road and wait for help. I promise that running out of spiritual gas is a lot worse than running out of real gas. God doesn’t want us just sitting on the side of the road waiting for help. He wants us driving down the road that he has put ahead of us, and the only way we can do that is to have him fill our tanks up until they overflow.

All we have to do is ask, and he’ll give us what we need. Keep an eye on your gas tank and make sure that there is more than enough. Don’t let your tank stay empty when God promises to fill you up. At the end of the day, our strength is in The Lord and no matter how much is in our tank we can always rely on Him. In the meantime, I’m going to head to the gas station.