I drive a hybrid car. A hybrid car has both gasoline and electric motors. My hybrid is not a plug-in hybrid. It recharges the batteries when I’m driving. For the most part, the car runs on gasoline, but when I stop at a light or I am driving less than 40 mph on a city street, the electric engine (if it has enough charge) takes over until the charge is reduced to the point where charging begins again. So, how does my hybrid charge? The charging of the batteries happens whenever the gas engine is running, but mostly when you slow down by braking. This is called regenerative braking. This is why hybrids usually get better gas mileage in the city, because of stop and go traffic.
Vehicles aside, what about spiritual recharging? Christians agree that we are fueled when we participate in the worship assembly and in Bible studies, but there is a spiritual lesson that we can learn from the hybrid car. Recall that the batteries recharge primarily by regenerative breaking. Spiritually speaking, we also recharge by regenerative breaking. Jesus understood this principle because “He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed (Luke 5:16).” Jesus regularly took the time to slow down and remove Himself from all of the busyness around Him to spiritually recharge. This is spiritual regenerative breaking.
Like Jesus, we all need to engage in regenerative breaking to recharge our spiritual batteries. We can do that by doing what Jesus did. We can pray. Praying keeps us connected to the ultimate power source: God. We can pray alone like Jesus. We can pray with others (Matthew 18:19). We can pray for others and even ask others to pray for us (James 5:16). We can call upon the elders to pray for us (James 5:14). Praying helps us to not only recharge, but to stay charged and ready to go!
Another way that we can engage in regenerative breaking and recharge our spiritual batteries is through meditation. The kind of meditation we’re talking about is not sitting and thinking about nothing or participating in some kind of mystic chant. The kind of meditation that recharges us spiritually is the kind that the Psalmist writes about in Psalm 1:2. In speaking of the one who follows God, he writes: “his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.”
We meditate on God’s Word by reading, reflecting, applying, singing, listening, writing, illustrating, and even talking with others about it. This is different than Bible study. Bible study is more academic. Paul writes in 1 Timothy 4:13 & 15 to encourage Timothy to “13 [. . .] give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. [. . .] 15 Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all.”
The Greek word translated “meditate” in verse 15 is μελετάω and means: “to give careful thought to, to ponder, to think about.” Taking the time to not only read God’s Word but to meditate on it’s meaning and it’s application for us personally, helps us to recharge spiritually and stay charged.
Just like regenerative breaking recharges a hybrid vehicle’s batteries, prayer and meditation can recharge us spiritually. In order for that to happen we need to periodically slow down and remove ourselves from all of the busyness around us so that we can spiritually recharge.
