Running on Empty by Jackson Browne reminds me of the conversation of Jesus with the woman by the well in Samaria.
She was running on empty, driven by a parched and thirsty soul that the longer she lived was becoming an empty desert. Married five times and currently living with a man . . .
Gotta do what you can just to keep your love alive
Trying not to confuse it with what you do to survive.
Jesus, recognizing her aimless and lost life, offers her living water. “Whoever drinks the water I give them,” he tells her, “will never thirst.”
That “chance” meeting with Jesus, by the well, changed her life. And not only hers, but the lives of many living in Sychar. Jesus stayed in the town two days, “and because of his words, many more became believers.”
Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels
I don’t know how to tell you all just how crazy this life feels
Look around for the friends that I used to turn to to pull me through
Looking into their eyes, I see them running too.
What strikes me most about Running on Empty is how the hopes and dreams of youth fade away with age. It’s not easy to hear, but the prophet Jeremiah tells us the reason why -
“They followed worthless (literally, empty) idols and became worthless (empty) themselves.”
So many things on which we build our lives and pursue so passionately turn out to be hollow and empty. Years ago, I was talking with a pastor friend who was offered a high-paying job in our denomination. At the time, the salary for this position was $500,000 with a guaranteed $100,000 bonus each year. Wisely, he asked the advice of others. One man who had climbed to the top of the denominational ladder offered him this advice - “I’ve been to the top,” he said, “and there’s nothing there.”
“What good is it,” asks Jesus, “for someone to gain the world yet forfeit their soul?” And Jesus isn’t talking about going to heaven or hell. He’s talking about the essence of our lives, who we are, and who we become.
“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” (John 7:38)
In Christ,
Dan
P.S. You can listen to the song with lyrics here.
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