David Anguish
I recently spent an hour watching traffic on one of our city's expressways. I was making good time, cruise control set at the speed limit, when my car began to sputter. I turned the cruise off and headed to the right lane. The problem worsened, so I headed up a ramp some five miles short of where I intended to exit. At the top of the ramp, the car quit. I turned the key, hoping to at least get to a better parking place, but the car was dead.
I got out, and as soon as it was safe to do so, raised the hood. I immediately looked at the alternator, suspecting it as the reason for my plight. I was right - sort of. It was the problem, but not in the way I expected. The belt which keeps it running was gone. The car had been running on the battery alone. When the reserve power stored there was depleted, it quit. I called a tow truck and waited in the hot Georgia sun.
Reflecting on the event the next day (that kind of experience has a way of staying with you for awhile at least), I thought of a parallel to our spiritual journey.
How many of us become busy with the many good deeds we perform - works of ministry which address the needs of those we meet - only to reach a point in our lives where we just can't go on? Sometimes, all we need is a pause, after which we are ready to get back to work. But sometimes the pause becomes permanent. Burned out, some stop and never get going again. If they do not cease the Lord's work completely, their involvement is only minimal.
It is an oversimplification to say that the same reasons are behind every case. But we do know that, in such a practically oriented culture as ours is - where to contemplate is to be thought either weak or weird - it is too easy to try to run on the equivalent of spiritual battery power. When the reserve supply of energy is depleted, the busy disciple quits.
As Mark records his busy days, he tells us that Jesus knew the importance of replenishing his resources. After a day of teaching and healing which extended into the evening, we are told that, "in the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there" (Mark 1:35, NASB). Later, having sent the apostles on a practicum, he listened to their reports and then "said to them, 'Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.' (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.) They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves" (Mark 6:31-32).
The point here can be twisted, for our culture is as devoted to leisure as it is to lack of reflection. So, please do not read into this any endorsement of the view that discipleship is supposed to be convenient. What we are talking about is really another form of commitment. What we need to keep going spiritually is not leisure (which is not always the same as recreation), but a commitment to balance our activities with reflection on the holy. As an alternator keeps the power supply constant to run our cars, so we need to make time to avail ourselves of the power supply which generates energy for spiritual service.
The psalmist likened the man who makes meditation on the Word a priority to a "tree firmly planted by streams of water" (Psalm 1:3). The best deterrent to spiritual fatigue is to purposefully sink our roots deep and claim the power which is ours for the asking. To fail to do this is to die.