Keep Your Tank Full

The truck sputtered, heaved, and lurched forward one final time before finally dying. The sinking feeling in my stomach was confirmed as I tried to start it again. I was out of gas. You probably know that feeling too, as it has happened to almost everyone who regularly drives a car. In my defense the gas gauge broke on my old truck, so I couldn’t tell by looking how close I was to empty. Luckily I wasn’t far from home so I called my wife who came down with a gas can, allowing me to fill up again. I filled the tank all the way and vowed to play closer attention.

When I first started to drive in high school I didn’t always have the money to fill up my 30 gallon gas tank on my van. I can’t count the number of times I sheepishly walked in the gas station to only put 2 or 3 dollars worth of gas into the car, just enough to get me to where I was going and back again. I should apologize to the cashiers that I made wait as I counted out change over the years. I was smart enough to know I needed to fill up, but the circumstances of my life didn’t allow me to get a full tank whenever I wanted to.

Now I usually fill up my car with gas when I can, but I’ll admit that my spiritual gas tank doesn’t always stay as full. Over the years as my family and ministry has grown, I need more and more fuel than before. I have found that I needed to fill up my spiritual gas tank more than ever. But I’ve also found it harder to do that. Many of the things that edify and encourage us are harder to do the busier we get, like fellowship, meals with friends, or even gathering as a church. We don’t have time for all of these things that we need to stay on full. Every person has to overcome obstacles like tragedy, suffering, or even just the busyness of life. Each of them makes it harder for us to keep our tanks full.

It would be nice if we could always fill up the tank all the way, but the circumstances you face right now might not allow that. What you need to do is find those moments throughout your day and week when you can put a few dollars in the gas tank and make it to your next stop without running out. This might be a quiet moment in the car while you drive and worship, a conversation with a good friend over the phone, or a good night with your family. When all we do is look forward to the big moments of rest like a week-long vacation, we miss the daily and hourly moments we have to rest and fill our hearts and minds with God.

Every person has those moments where you have just enough in the tank to make it through the day before you collapse and do it all over again. No one is exempt from those seasons. While it’s unavoidable to have seasons where you feel overwhelmed, we shouldn’t get so used to it that we make a habit of it. At times we might only have a few dollars to put in the tank, and it’s in those seasons every little bit helps. We need to make sure that we find the still moments in the middle of a busy day to turn our hearts and minds back towards God and fill our tanks up again. But we also need to make sure that we take the longer types of rests that push our needles all the way back to full.

Everybody would benefit from a nice long rest, but that kind is a lot harder to come by. It would be great to take two weeks vacation or a month’s sabbatical to fill all the way up. And we must make sure that we make the time to do that. But if we only wait until we can fill all the way up then we will eventually run out of gas somewhere on the road. We need to train ourselves to find rest in those small moments along the way, which will probably be different for every person. Every person has to make sure they find ways to rest in order that they can keep sharing the gospel with others and being there for their family and friends.

You never see someone ashamed to be at a gas station. In the same way you shouldn’t be ashamed of taking time to refill your tank so you can continue to lead in the place God has put you. In the middle of a crazy season you might be able to only fill up a few dollars at a time. Don’t forget to plan for those seasons when you can fill all the way up too. There’s too much at stake to let your tank run dry.