Dissipation at the Filling Station
IllustrationAnalogy★★★★THE MOMENT you pull away from the filling station, dissipation occurs. As you drive, you use up the gasoline. Over time you will burn gas. The length of time from full to empty depends on how far you travel, how fast you travel, and the amount of air-conditioning or heat used.
The fuel indicator slowly goes from full to empty because driving the car uses the energy the fuel provides. Eventually the car will need to be filled up again with gasoline. The filling of a car is an ongoing responsibility. In the same way, as we live life, we get drained spiritually.
We go to church, have our devotions, and spend time in fellowship with other Christian believers so that we can fill our tanks. But as we live our lives, we run empty as we expend our spiritual energy doing the work God has for us.
In order to continue to do the work, we have to continue to get refilled.
The point
Spiritual energy depletes through living and work; believers must regularly refill through prayer, worship, and Christian fellowship.