6 steps from saturation to regeneration

Overload is a common symptom of twenty-first-century life. The weight of expectation from employers, clients, family, friends and even ourselves often leads us to take on too much and reach saturation. Be encouraged. Help is at hand.

There’s a remarkable material called activated carbon cloth (not the above-mentioned help, but stay with me).

It has an amazing property. Every visible square metre has an actual 100,000 square metre surface area.

It’s used in filters, protective clothing and wound dressings to adsorb – take up – odorous or harmful molecules. The molecules accumulate on its vast ‘hidden’ surface area. But even this techie textile has its limits: it too eventually becomes saturated.

However, it can be regenerated by an electrical charge, heat or washing. It’s then ready for re-use.

Here are six scriptural steps towards our own regeneration after – or preferably before – we reach saturation:

1 Approach: Come to me

In the parable of the yoke¹, Jesus said: “Come to me all you who labour and are heavy laden.” There’s a job description with which many of us can identify. The first step is to accept Jesus’ open invitation to approach him in prayer.

2 Attach: Take my yoke

The good news is that we’re offered one half of a double yoke – the crossbar fitted to a pair of oxen – to lighten our load. Through it, we get attached to an ox with infinitely greater pulling power than ours: Jesus himself. This is a bit like attaching my depleted 1.5 volt battery to his 1000 megawatt power station for a charge-up.

3 Abandon: Cast your burden

We’re encouraged to ‘cast our burden’² onto Jesus’ shoulders. Be honest and specific about which particular cares and concerns you’re offloading. And know that the floorboards of heaven won’t crack under the strain of your erstwhile ‘stuff.’

4 Appropriate: Learn from me

Jesus is, among other things, ‘gentle and humble in heart.’ We may think: ‘That’s fine for him, but it’s the last thing I feel.’ But the point is that, through our yoke of connection, his strengths flow to us. And these include the very antidotes to the burdens we’ve been carrying.

When he says: “Learn from me,” he means learning by his example and what he teaches in scripture.  We’re also taught by the Holy Spirit, the ‘Counsellor’ and ‘Spirit of truth… (who)…will guide you into all truth.’³ The Spirit points us to and explains scripture, and reveals truth to us through wider revelation too.

5 Accept rest: Find rest for your souls

Peace of mind is the promised outcome of all of the above. The key is not trying to figure out the solution solely in our strength. We come to enjoy peace within despite the external circumstances, because of our heart-to-heart connection with the Prince of peace himself.

There’s a practical side to rest here too. We need to build in times of rest to our lives, punctuating both the days and the seasons, in order to stay fresh.

6 Abide: If you abide in me…†

Staying in living union with Jesus is the preventive medicine against saturation. When we accept him as Lord and Saviour, we already have that union. The key is to remain in close, prayerful relationship with him and in agreement with his words – highlighted to us through scripture and the Spirit’s direct and indirect revelation.

How does our perception of God’s size and our sense of connectedness – or otherwise – to him influence our own capacity to stay fresh and energised?

¹ Matthew 11:28-30 NKJV     ² Psalm 55:22 NKJV

³ John 16:13 NKJV                    † John 15:7 NKJV