How long do you keep driving after your gas light turns on?

In a recent conversation with a group of friends, we somehow landed on discussing cars and the inconvenience of running out of gas.

Our talk took an unexpected yet hilarious turn when one of my friends mentioned she habitually continues driving even long after her gas light comes on.

Unbothered by our reactions of shock, she nonchalantly boasted that she’s done this so many times that she knows about how many miles she can squeeze out of her car before the last drop of gas runs out + she ends up stranded.

Though we laughed in disbelief at my dear friend’s wild + risky habit, I realized many of us live this way. We ignore the alarms of our soul that are trying to alert us we’re running ourselves low, are exhausted and anxious.

Rather than pausing to get the replenishment and healing we need, we go on—deceiving ourselves into believing we’re okay + can keep running on ”E” without consequence.

We are not machines that were made to go-go-go, do-do-do & work-work-work always at the highest speed and maximized capacity.

We are humans who are finite, limited and needy.

Our culture trains us to believe otherwise, which is why I think many of us feel shame when we inevitably find ourselves stranded far from where we belong, burned out and left wanting.

Our world tells us we’ll get the “more” we’re after when we exert all of our time, energy + resources to gain it—even if that means devaluing others in the process. And even if we get what we’re chasing, it falls short of the peace, rest + love we didn’t realize we were striving after all along.

As we come to the end of our Undistracted Fast, I felt God strongly emphasizing that this was his aim all along, to flip this way of living right side up and show us his way–a new, better way to flourish.

God desires that we’d no longer be people who run on empty in our attempt to fill ourselves with things that are insufficient for our soul’s satisfaction. He wants us to depend on him + empty all of our sin, brokenness and pride with him, that he may fill us with the only thing capable of filling the holes in our hearts: him!

Tune in to our discussion + prayer session about the Life-giving Call of Being a Lover of God.

Today’s Meditation

1 Samuel 2:12, 18, 1 Samuel 3, 1 Peter 2:9 + Ephesians 5:26-27

Of every generation, we’re the closest ever to Jesus’ return. He is coming back for his pure and spotless Bride, the Church.

If we examine our hearts or take a look out at the current state of Christianity, would we unanimously agree that we look like apprentices, friends and devoted lovers of Jesus? Or would we reluctantly admit we look more like fans, employees or an associates?

To become the Bride he’s looking for, I believe God wants to purify our hearts from every motive, ambition and desire that puts a wedge between him + us.

He’s looking for those who will echo King David’s words in Psalm 27, that he’d be the one thing we seek after, that we’d abide in his presence and love, forever beholding his beauty.

A day is coming–and is also here–where those who honor him with their lips and whose hearts are far from him will be plain for all to see, while those who have found their fill in him will arise and be those he uses to bring many more hearts to him.

As you read + meditate on today’s verses I want you to ask yourself:

Does your life revolve around your relationship with God? Why or why not?
What does it mean that Jesus is returning for a holy, pure and spotless bride?
Take an honest look at your life + your heart. Would you say you treat God as common and your relationship with him as casual? Why or why not?
What do you think it means for Jesus to call us a “holy nation and a royal priesthood?”
In what ways can you return to God as your only source of satisfaction?

I pray you find your fill in God alone.

I pray you see he is the treasure worth forsaking all else for.

I pray nothing entices you to waver from his love, and that the lamp of your heart remains ever burning for your Beloved.

For those who’ve joined this fast + stuck it out until the end: I’m incredibly proud of you, and fully believe that every beautiful seed God has planted in your heart over these last 7 days will bear plenty of bountiful fruit in the time to come!