Running on Empty

Re-read John chapter 2 for Jesus' first miracle. And go to Living Hope Church if you want to recap what was said in the message by Pastor Paul on Sunday.

Jackson Browne wrote a song I still remember in my formative days growing up. It was called “Running on empty”. You probably remember it too and if you don’t you are googlein’ it now. I suggest it as a ringtone, it’s got a great chorus.

Anyway the song says: “Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels, Looking back at the years gone by like so many summer fields, In sixty-five I was seventeen and running up one-o-one I don't know where I'm running now, I'm just running on

Running on, running on empty, Running on, running blind, Running on, running into the sun, But I'm running behind.”

So many people I know are just like this. I was just like this. The song describes the biggest dis-ease on the planet. It kills more people each year than all top 10 killer diseases of Malaria, Measles, HIV/AIDS… It is the disease of being empty on the inside. It drives us to do things we know are not right, to say things that we will regret later. Often the very presence of it keeps us from finding our healing. Like a Chinese finger puzzle, the harder you pull the tighter the grip of running on empty becomes.

See that is why in Christian circles they call them “lost”. That is because when we strive for life outside of Jesus we get lost. No matter how hard we try no peg will fit into the Jesus hole. Cars won’t, friends won’t, money won’t, religion won’t, even trying to offend God won’t. You can run, you can run hard, fast and far, but when you get to the end of your breath and strength, Jesus will be the one there handing you the cup of water.

I suggest you stop running and instead start reaching! Reach higher, reach farther, reach in faith; reach to the SON!

The song continues: “Gotta do what you can just to keep your love alive, Trying not to confuse it with what you do to survive, In sixty-nine I was twenty-one and I called the road my own, I don't know when that road turned onto the road I'm on…”

Instead of trying to keep your love alive in the things of this world, let your love go and accept Christ’s love! When you do, confusion clears, years compound and the road you travel is one that you can be sure will bring life!

But wait there is more, the song continues: “Everyone I know, everywhere I go, People need some reason to believe, I don't know about anyone but me, If it takes all night, that'll be all right, If I can get you to smile before I leave.”

What passion! A man trying to get a girl to smile, so He can believe again in life again! Sacrificially driven to find purpose, a man focused on one goal. He is running, running on, running on empty.

“Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come!” (Matthew 18:7)

Jesus tells us that He is sorry for those that set their hearts on the things of this world, He feels your pain and the pain of all the years of running on empty. Will you stop and find your rest and salvation in God? Will you read this and still keep running? I do pray and hope in a tangible God you won’t!