The Temptation to Be Constantly Available to Everyone

Always being available may look like generosity, but it slowly drains you dry. Discover why Jesus withdrew from people who needed Him, and how his example frees you to be unreachable sometimes.Some of us take pride in being reachable. The text gets answered the second it comes in. You never turn down the request for coffee, and you never let a call go unanswered. From the outside it looks like generosity, and part of it is love. But some of it is something else, a person who has never learned how to disappoint anyone, who feels a low hum of guilt whenever they're not available to meet a need. That way of living has a cost, and it comes due whether you plan for it or not.This episode opens with Wayne Cordeiro, a pastor who almost never told people no. For years his constant availability looked like love, and much of it was. Then one evening, out for an ordinary jog before a leadership conference, he found himself sitting on a curb, crying, unable to remember how he got there. He had been leading on empty for so long that he finally hit bottom.Scripture points to a wiser pattern. Luke 5:16 says of Jesus, "So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed." Notice the word often. There were still sick people who wanted healing and crowds who wanted teaching, and Jesus walked away from them to be alone with His Father. He left needs unmet on purpose, because He knew that being on call every hour would leave Him with nothing to give. His withdrawing was how He kept having something to offer.If the Son of God needed to pull back and pray, so do you. You are allowed to be unreachable sometimes. You can turn the phone face down and let the request wait until tomorrow. The world will not fall apart, and you will not have let anyone down. Your health depends on it, and so does your walk with God, because time with Him is the first thing crowded out when you're available to everyone else. Bart shares his own struggle to rest, and how he came to treat the Sabbath as a command to obey rather than laziness to feel guilty about. Wayne's road back took nearly three years, and he came to see the rest he had refused as the very thing that saved his ministry and his health.BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING, YOU'LL DISCOVER:Why constant availability drains the very thing people come to you forWhat Luke 5:16 shows about Jesus withdrawing from people who still needed HimA simple step for building unreachable, restful time into your week without guiltYou are allowed to be unreachable sometimes. Pull back and rest the way Jesus did, so you'll still have something to give the people who need you.Share This Episode:https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/313Need Prayer? Leave me a voicemail:https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/voicemailWant to keep these devotions coming? Please consider supporting this podcast.https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/support/Rate and Reviewhttps://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/reviews/new/Connect with BartFacebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/dailydevotionsforbusylivesWebsite: https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.comFeeling spiritually drained? Start here. Download your free copy of my eBook Making Time for Jesus here: https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/subscribe.