Well, bless his heart!
Gary got up early and decided he wanted some oatmeal and toast for breakfast. He finds his oatmeal pot, and adds water and the oats. He puts the pot on the back eye of the stove and turns it on. He then gets out the loaf of French bread and cuts off two nice sized slices, butters them and puts them on a pan in the oven set on broil.
He goes about his business as he waits for the pot to boil and the bread to brown.
He goes to the stove to stir his oatmeal and checks on the bread. Well, my goodness. Cold as the grave! The electric eye is not showing that familiar orangish reddish glow. There’s no heat coming from the black element in the top of the oven; the bread is just as it was when he put it in.
The stove was out of service!
Broken. Not working. No heat. It had come on and heated to cook meals for 10 years, and it wasn’t going to be cooking any more.
After shutting off the breaker, Gary and Andrew got the stove pulled out away from the wall to discover two burned places on the wires and insulation and a melted plug! Thank the Lord the whole problem didn’t cause a fire and burn our home down!
We couldn’t see the back of the stove while using it since it was fitted in a space in the cabinets. The stove was slowly burning through the wires and plugs until it burned out.
We only knew it was happening when we saw the result.
Lots of situations are like this one. We can’t see what is happening in a relationship and it develops big problems and it seems like our love fizzles out. We don’t see what is going on in our spiritual life until we are burned out with service and work (depending on our own steam, power, energy and not God’s) and just want to throw up our hands and quit. We toil away at our job, saving up grudges and discontent, until we just can’t get up and go to work anymore.
What can we do to check we aren’t burning out? Be aware of your spirit. Are you feeling the presence of God and His wisdom and comfort? Spiritual problems affect all areas of our lives.
Pray. Maybe you don’t “feel” like it. That happens. It doesn’t matter. Pray anyway. God is there. The Holy Spirit is there. Jesus hasn’t changed. Pray honestly with God. Tell Him how you feel and what you are going through. Pray like King David from your heart.
Be with fellow Christians. Best place to do that is in church and Bible study and worship! Let them encourage you. Three times a week of positive input will help fill you.
Allow yourself to rest. Jesus did. If anyone was busy, Jesus certainly was during his ministry! Mark 1:35 says, “Rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.”
We can do that, too.
Follow His example.
