Fueling Foul Up

Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,

Because His compassions fail not.

They are new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.—Lamentations 3:22-23 

I do it all the time—every time I fill up. I notch the lever on the gas pump handle and trust it to stop automatically when the fuel reaches the top of the tank. Wednesday was no different. I positioned the nozzle, squeezed the trigger, secured the lever and let it do its thing.  Meanwhile I watched the numbers on the pump climb higher than the dollars in my wallet.  Click! I reached for the handle and then quickly withdrew my hand, as gasoline gushed out, splashing down the side of the Jeep and spilling onto the concrete. “Oh, no!” I groaned, fumbling to release the lever.  Wasting fuel in our conservation conscious culture is sinful. What a mess! What do I do? I scanned the pumping station. Not a paper towel in sight! Angrily I rummaged through my car and pulled out a rumpled napkin.  But I knew I had no one to blame but myself. I will never take my hand off the nozzle again! 

How many other things do I do automatically?  Has routine become my routine? 

The residual odor of octane is an overwhelming reminder that “automatic” doesn’t automatically work. How many things have I taken my hand off of—so to speak—and just let them do their own thing?  Have I become so accustomed to my job, my ministry, my relationships, and even my worship that I can operate my life with little effort?  In so doing, am I just going through the motions?  Wasting my energy? 

As the lyrics of a well-known song by Matthew West express, “I’ve gotta make a change… I don't wanna go through the motions—I don't wanna go one more day—without Your all consuming passion inside of me.  I don't wanna spend my whole life asking what if I had given everything instead of going through the motions.” (Capitol Christian Music Group, 2008)

In his book All In (Zondervan, 2013), Mark Batterson reminds Christians that Jesus was never passive but passionate (p.37).  How can we emulate the passion of Christ?   

We can start by following His prayer guide:  “Give us this day our daily bread.”—Matthew 6:11 

We must beseech Him daily—not just for physical sustenance but spiritual as well, for “Man shall not live and be upheld and sustained by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). 

In a discussion with His followers about physical bread, Jesus broached the subject of manna from heaven. The Israelites knew about manna, for their ancestors had collected it in the wilderness for their daily sustenance.  

Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed. Then Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning.”  

However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.—Exodus 16:18-20 

We cannot expect old manna to sustain us.

Like the Israelites who collected their daily omer, let us go to the Lord daily for a fresh supply of “the bread of life” (John 6:35).  Let us feast upon the Word of God (John 1:1).  And let us seek a fresh outpouring of His Holy Spirit (Joel 2:28) to invigorate us with an all consuming passion. 

Then we can trust Him to replace the stale with something new.  

Do not remember the former things,

Nor consider the things of old.

Behold, I will do a new thing,

Now it shall spring forth;

Shall you not know it?

I will even make a road in the wilderness

And rivers in the desert.—Isaiah 43:18-19 

Dear Lord, Thank You for Your life-giving bread (John 6:51)—and for the overwhelming-odor-of-octane reminder than passivity is like the odor of rancid manna. May I come to You daily for a fill-up of fresh power, replacing passivity with the passion to point others to You. And may I always keep my hand on the nozzle…uh, the plow (Luke 9:62). “To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me” (Colossians 1:29). Amen.