Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Empty Tanks

Four-year-old Andrew spilled something on the floor, sending his mother, Cathy, into a screaming tirade.

Andrew watched his mother have a fit and then said, "Mommy, you forgot to ask Jesus to help you be nice today, didn't you?"

It is so easy to do. Our bodies rebel at the sound of the alarm. We squeeze every second out of the snooze button. We rush through our morning rituals and swallow our barely-chewed breakfast on the way to work. The rest of the day keeps the same pace. The busyness never stops.

And the time with God never begins. Before we know it, we have spent another 24 hours without an eternal investment of time with our Father.

"He (Jesus) went up on the mountain by Himself to pray..." (Matthew 14:23). Luke wrote that Jesus "often" withdrew from others to pray. Every one of us needs time alone with God. We all need to ask Jesus to help us be nice. Even Jesus, the Son of God, needed to spend time with the Father.

We go through each day so quickly. But which is more important: Speed or direction? Under which circumstances are you able to see more: Zipping through traffic or taking a walk? That's what the Christian life is built upon: a refreshing walk between two friends.

Zipping through your day without spending time with God ends up zapping you of what you need for today and tomorrow. A van ran out of gas on the side of the road. The road-side assistant came to the rescue and noticed the van had two gas tanks. He asked the obvious question, "Are both tanks empty?"

"Both tanks? You mean, there are two?" The road-side assistant showed the owner of the van - no, it wasn't me - how to switch tanks and the van started right up. There's a difference between unavailable power and unappropriated power.

In Christ, you have all the power you need to survive and even thrive each day. It's up to you to appropriate it by taking that daily walk with Him.

Come apart with Christ so you don't come apart with anyone else,
Perry Crisp

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