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The Temptation to Be Constantly Available to Everyone · Daily Devotions for Busy Lives

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  Bart Leger: Wayne Cordero was the man everybody could reach.
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  He pastored a church that kept growing and he almost never told
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  people no. A need came up and he met it. Somebody asked for a few
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  minutes and walked away with an hour of his for years that
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  looked like love and plenty of it was, it also meant he was on
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  call every waking hour. One evening, away from home to speak
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  at a leadership conference, he went out for a jog to clear his
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  head. It was the kind of run he'd done a thousand times.
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  Nothing to it. He never made it back the How he'd gotten there.
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  We'll come back to what happened to him. But first,
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  welcome to Daily Devotions for Busy Lives. I'm Bart Leger. I
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  used to be terrible at resting. For years I treated a day off
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  like I owed back and I filled it with something useful before
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  lunch. If my phone buzzed on Saturday, I answered stop felt
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  like laziness. Maybe even like I was letting people down. this
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  week's day off, I said: If God didn't suggest the Sabbath He
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  commanded it. I know, we're not still under the law, but it's a
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  principle, God created to help us rest.
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  And when I submitted to it, rest went from being something I felt
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  guilty about to something I now cherish, and I build it into my
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  week now on purpose. I'm still not saying that a Sunday at
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  times. I'm still not necessarily great at it, but I've stopped
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  apologizing for being unavailable one day out of seven.
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  Maybe you know the pull I'm describing. You pride yourself
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  on being reachable. The text gets answered the second it
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  comes in. You never turn down the request for coffee, and you
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  never let a call go unanswered. From the outside, looking in, it
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  may look like generosity, and part of it is, you do love
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  people, but some of it is something else. It's a person
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  who has never learned how to disappoint anyone, who feels a
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  low hum of guilt any time they're not available to meet a
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  need. And that way of living has a cost, and it comes due whether
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  you plan for it or not. When you are reachable, every waking hour
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  you simply empty out. The very thing people come to you for,
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  your patience and your attention, starts running low because you
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  never stop long enough to be refilled. You can't pour from a
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  cup nobody ever fills. Here's what surprises people: Jesus,
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  who had more need pressing on him than anyone who ever lived,
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  did not make himself available around the clock. Listen to Luke
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  5: 16. "So he himself often withdrew into the wilderness and
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  prayed." Notice the word "often." He did this again and
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  again. It was a pattern. There were sick people who still
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  wanted healing in crowds who still wanted teaching, and Jesus
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  walked away from them to be alone with his Father. He left
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  needs unmet on purpose. He knew that if he stayed on call every
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  hour of every day, he would run dry, and then he'd have nothing
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  left for the people who depended on him. His withdrawing was how
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  he kept having something to give. If the Son of God needed to pull
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  back and pray, then so do you. That means you're allowed to be
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  unreachable sometimes. You're allowed to turn the phone face
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  down and let the request wait till tomorrow. The world won't
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  fall apart, I guarantee you, and you will not have let anyone
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  down. You will have done exactly what Jesus did. Because your
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  health depends on it, and so does your walk with God. Because
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  the relationship that keeps you full is the first thing that
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  gets crowded out when you're available to everyone but him.
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  What had broken was him. Wayne had been leaning on empty,
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  pouring out for so many people for so long that the tank
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  finally hit bottom. The road back took him the better part of
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  three years, with rest built into his weeks for the first
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  time in memory. He came to see the Sabbath God commanded as a
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  gift as a gift he'd been refusing. Pulling back stopped
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  feeling like laziness once he understood it as obedience and
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  as the only way he'd have anything left to give. Here's
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  what he figured out: Pulling back turned out to be obedience
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  and the only way he'd have anything left to give. The rest
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  he had refused for years became the thing that saved his
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  ministry and his health. Here's today's challenge: Pick one
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  block of time this week and make yourself unreachable in it. Put
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  the phone in another room; tell the people who need to know that
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  you'll be back later, and then go be with God or rest or both.
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  If guilt rises, and it will, remind yourself that you're
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  doing what Jesus did when he withdrew. That block of rest is
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  how you make sure there's still someone there when they need you.
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  Father, thank you that even Jesus stepped away to be with
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  you. Forgive us for thinking we have to be available to everyone
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  every hour, as if the world depended on us instead of on you.
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  Teach us to rest the way you commanded, without guilt. Help
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  us pull back before we run dry, so that we'll still have
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  something to give to the people we love. And draw us into the
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  time alone with you that fills us back up. In Jesus' name, amen.
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  If Daily Devotions for Busy Lives has been an encouragement
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  to you, would you take a minute and leave a rating and review?
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  It helps more people find these devotions, and it only takes a
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  moment. I'd be so grateful. Thanks for joining me on Daily
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  Devotions for Busy Lives. Remember, you are allowed to be
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  unreachable sometimes, the same way Jesus withdrew to be with
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  his Father. Pull back before you run dry, so you'll have
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  something left to give. Come back next time for more
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  encouragement to help you live grounded in God's truth. Until
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  then, God bless, and have a great day.