Fill Up

“Our life rarely crashes from a blowout; it fails from a slow leak.” - Howard Hendricks

I had a friend nearly wreck his life and those he loved. God did a miracle of grace but not until after the ravaging pain of an affair. It took years for him to regain trust and get life rolling again. It begs the question: How does a person go from a deep love for God to a devastating crash?

Last week I stood on Mt. Carmel in Israel. It’s the historic site of a showdown between good and evil - righteousness and recklessness. Ahab was a horrific King in Israel. He destroyed lives and lost his own life only to have dogs “lick up his blood.”

Ahab’s life gives us a clue about spiritual wrecks and how to avoid them. In I Kings 18:18 the prophet Elijah hammered Ahab with his problem, “...you have abandoned the commandments of God and followed the Baals.” Ahab went all in with sin/evil, but it was the result of neglecting the life-giving teachings of God. He committed sins of omission, and that led to devastating sins of commission.

It’s true! Our lives begin to fail over time by neglecting our relationship with God and his precepts - a slow leak. Tragic decisions are always the result of neglected disciplines. To blow-off, our need for intimate prayer, liberating truth and rich spiritual relationships are just a few critical omissions.

Friends, return to God. Get back in now. Don’t settle for a reputation of being alive while dying inside. Watch out for subtle personal deception. Cultivate the miracle of grace in your life every day. If you’ve never tapped into the power of God, surrender to his love right now and give your life to Jesus. If you’ve tasted the power of God’s love, don’t let the fire of your salvation go out. Stoke, the furnace of your soul with confession and conversation. God sent Jesus to earth to save you, not condemn you. Gorge yourself with God’s love and he’ll fill you up - life’s too short to wreck it!

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