The Temptation to Be Constantly Available to Everyone

Wayne Cordero was the man everybody could reach.

He pastored a church that kept growing and he almost never told

people no. A need came up and he met it. Somebody asked for a few

minutes and walked away with an hour of his for years that

looked like love and plenty of it was, it also meant he was on

call every waking hour. One evening, away from home to speak

at a leadership conference, he went out for a jog to clear his

head. It was the kind of run he'd done a thousand times.

Nothing to it. He never made it back the How he'd gotten there.

We'll come back to what happened to him. But first,

welcome to Daily Devotions for Busy Lives. I'm Bart Leger. I

used to be terrible at resting. For years I treated a day off

like I owed back and I filled it with something useful before

lunch. If my phone buzzed on Saturday, I answered stop felt

like laziness. Maybe even like I was letting people down. this

week's day off, I said: If God didn't suggest the Sabbath He

commanded it. I know, we're not still under the law, but it's a

principle, God created to help us rest.

And when I submitted to it, rest went from being something I felt

guilty about to something I now cherish, and I build it into my

week now on purpose. I'm still not saying that a Sunday at

times. I'm still not necessarily great at it, but I've stopped

apologizing for being unavailable one day out of seven.

Maybe you know the pull I'm describing. You pride yourself

on 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, looking in, it

may look like generosity, and part of it is, you do love

people, but some of it is something else. It's a person

who has never learned how to disappoint anyone, who feels a

low hum of guilt any time they're not available to meet a

need. And that way of living has a cost, and it comes due whether

you plan for it or not. When you are reachable, every waking hour

you simply empty out. The very thing people come to you for,

your patience and your attention, starts running low because you

never stop long enough to be refilled. You can't pour from a

cup nobody ever fills. Here's what surprises people: Jesus,

who had more need pressing on him than anyone who ever lived,

did not make himself available around the clock. Listen to Luke

5: 16. "So he himself often withdrew into the wilderness and

prayed." Notice the word "often." He did this again and

again. It was a pattern. There were sick people who still

wanted healing in crowds who still wanted teaching, and Jesus

walked away from them to be alone with his Father. He left

needs unmet on purpose. He knew that if he stayed on call every

hour of every day, he would run dry, and then he'd have nothing

left for the people who depended on him. His withdrawing was how

he kept having something to give. If the Son of God needed to pull

back and pray, then so do you. That means you're allowed to be

unreachable sometimes. You're allowed to turn the phone face

down and let the request wait till tomorrow. The world won't

fall apart, I guarantee you, and you will not have let anyone

down. You will have done exactly what Jesus did. Because your

health depends on it, and so does your walk with God. Because

the relationship that keeps you full is the first thing that

gets crowded out when you're available to everyone but him.

What had broken was him. Wayne had been leaning on empty,

pouring out for so many people for so long that the tank

finally hit bottom. The road back took him the better part of

three years, with rest built into his weeks for the first

time in memory. He came to see the Sabbath God commanded as a

gift as a gift he'd been refusing. Pulling back stopped

feeling like laziness once he understood it as obedience and

as the only way he'd have anything left to give. Here's

what he figured out: Pulling back turned out to be obedience

and the only way he'd have anything left to give. The rest

he had refused for years became the thing that saved his

ministry and his health. Here's today's challenge: Pick one

block of time this week and make yourself unreachable in it. Put

the phone in another room; tell the people who need to know that

you'll be back later, and then go be with God or rest or both.

If guilt rises, and it will, remind yourself that you're

doing what Jesus did when he withdrew. That block of rest is

how you make sure there's still someone there when they need you.

Father, thank you that even Jesus stepped away to be with

you. Forgive us for thinking we have to be available to everyone

every hour, as if the world depended on us instead of on you.

Teach us to rest the way you commanded, without guilt. Help

us pull back before we run dry, so that we'll still have

something to give to the people we love. And draw us into the

time alone with you that fills us back up. In Jesus' name, amen.

If Daily Devotions for Busy Lives has been an encouragement

to you, would you take a minute and leave a rating and review?

It helps more people find these devotions, and it only takes a

moment. I'd be so grateful. Thanks for joining me on Daily

Devotions for Busy Lives. Remember, you are allowed to be

unreachable sometimes, the same way Jesus withdrew to be with

his Father. Pull back before you run dry, so you'll have

something left to give. Come back next time for more

encouragement to help you live grounded in God's truth. Until

then, God bless, and have a great day.