Back when I was in high school, I remember buying a used moped that was so janky it lasted me no more than 2 weeks! To be fair, as janky as it was, it wasn’t really the moped's fault for failing just after 2 weeks. One day, I was fueling up the moped and happened to be at a pump that offered both regular gas and diesel. I heard that diesel was the tough man's gas to get, so I thought, "Why not?" Now, as a 16-year-old teen, what I didn’t realize was that vehicles are made specifically for either unleaded gas or diesel... Like, you can’t just choose. But, being me, I put a whole $1.30 of diesel into that moped and rode away. I remember that as I was riding, all of a sudden, every time I stopped, the moped would make this weird vibrating noise. I ignored it, and it kept happening until, at one point, I made a full stop, and the moped completely shut off. I tried to do the electric start and the cold start, but nothing could turn this moped back on. I was so mad because I had just fueled this thing up, and now I gotta roll this thing all the way home!
You see, I was doing the right thing in fueling my moped, but what I was fueling it with is where the problem lay that would later affect my ability to move forward. I think many of us relate to this in our own lives. Like at some point in this journey of faith, we all reach a stalling point where it seems like we’re stuck and immovable. We’re working hard to reach people, grow whatever ministry we’re leading, and see results but are left with discouragement, wondering what we’re doing wrong. Do you ever feel like you’re always running out of gas? Or that you keep trying to fuel your life with as much as you can but just always end up stalling and rolling your way through life, carrying a bigger burden than what you can handle? Could it be that you’ve been fueling up on the wrong source?
The Bible tells us about a woman Jesus encountered at a well. This woman would carry her water jar to this well at a time where the water was probably lukewarm to draw water daily. We later learn that she’s had several marriages and was living with a man she wasn’t even married to. I’m sure this created social tensions within the community around her and explains why she went to get water when no one did, so that she wouldn’t have to engage with other people. But here Jesus meets her and offers her living water. That with this water, she would never grow thirsty again. Based on what we learned about her situation, this woman spent her whole life trying to find the right fuel in all the wrong places and in the end came out stalled and maybe even empty. That is until Jesus comes into the picture, meets her at the well, and calls out all her mess, but rather than condemn and judge like those in her town probably were, he offers something of a lifetime. The thing her soul's been longing after: “Living Water”.
Now you may be asking what this has to do with your life and ministry, and the answer is everything! Just like this woman, our lives will only ever be satisfied when we take in the living water Jesus offers through his Holy Spirit. We were made to long for not just any water, but living water! Or in other words, you were made for unleaded gas, not diesel! Here’s what I mean…
You were made for God by God! He knows your needs, desires, and before anything he assigns for you to do, he calls us to be his sons and daughters. If we’re not careful, ministry in and of itself can become our fuel. The blessings can become our fuel. The provision can become our fuel. The numbers can become our fuel. The outcomes and results can become our fuel. The reality is that if your fuel is not in Christ and Christ alone, you will eventually stall and feel empty because these things are not capable of satisfying us. But when Christ is your fuel, I can assure you that whether it be in triumph or trial, you will be fulfilled because the fuel of Jesus, his living water, is one that never runs out no matter what may be in our way. So as you navigate through that hard ministry season, that tough tragedy, that rut, or wherever you find yourself in, my question to you is “what is your fuel?”.
