THE DANGER OF RUNNING ON EMPTY

“We are often running on fumes, spiritually, but we must know where the fuel station is and, even more important, that it exists. After trying all kinds of other things, Christians have learned that the worship of God with the whole heart in the assurance of his love through the work of Jesus Christ is the thing their souls were meant to “run on.” That is what gets all the heart’s cylinders to fire. “ – Timothy Keller.

There is an unusual game that many people played as teenagers. This game of “gas-roulette” was played due to a lack of funds, as payday was often a few days away. You had to hope that the car’s owner’s manual was correct, and that the vehicle would truly travel 60 miles once the gas light turned on. But to be on the safe side, you coasted down every hill in neutral as a precaution. That works pretty well if there are a lot of hills. But despite your best efforts, you have probably run out of gas on at least one occasion.

In the same way that we can be forced to test our car’s limits, we can run our body, soul, and spirit on empty, and in that case, we don’t have a gas gauge with low fuel lighting flashing at us.  If you’ve ever found yourself there—wired and tired, busy but empty—you’re not alone. In fact, that restlessness has ancient roots. When God gave His people the Ten Commandments, He included something radical in the list: a command to stop. Not to worship harder, work more, or give everything away. The command was to stop and observe the Sabbath. Build space to rest.

Jesus modeled this. He frequently pulled away from the crowds. Not because He didn’t care—but because He knew His power came from communion, not constant output. His rhythm wasn’t just about balance—it was about obedience.

Sabbath wasn’t meant to be another rule to perform—it was meant to remind people of their dependence. It was God’s way of saying you’re not a machine. But we forget that in our attempts to pack as much as we can into our daily schedules, we equate stillness with laziness and margin with weakness. But Jesus reframes everything. When the Pharisees challenged Him for healing on the Sabbath, He reminded them of its true purpose in Mark 2:27: “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath.”The sabbath is to remind us we’re human. Limited. Dependent. And deeply loved even when we’re still and at rest.

The reality is our souls have limits.  At some point, burnout stops being a scheduling issue and starts being a spiritual one. When we refuse to rest, we’re often saying with our lives what we’d never admit with our lips, “I don’t trust God to handle this if I stop.” But Sabbath is how we say, “I trust you.” It’s a weekly reminder that we’re not what we do—we’re who He’s called.

To ourselves and others, we may appear successful. But our depleted “fuel tanks” can threaten to leave us stranded on the roadside of our spiritual journey. We need to watch the fuel gauge and realize that the tank will soon be empty.

Discussion Questions:

1. How full is your spiritual “tank” right now? What are the most significant drains on your energy and spiritual life?
2. What obstacles commonly prevent you from planning time to rest and recharge? Do you view rest as unproductive or essential?