Today’s Bible Reading:
1 Chronicles 16
James 3
Obadiah 1
Luke 5
Today’s Bible Verse(s):
Luke 5:15–16 (CSB): “But the news about him spread even more, and large crowds would come together to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. Yet he often withdrew to deserted places and prayed.”
Reflections on Today’s Bible Verse(s):
There are people that pour into us and then there are people who drain us. There are givers and there are takers.
If you are surrounded by “givers,” your default emotional setting will be happiness. Those givers typically are encouragers. They are people who acknowledge what you did right. Their eyes light up when they see you and they may give you a warm handshake or a hug. They write heartwarming notes. Actions and words like these work to fill your emotional tank. Unless your emotional tank has a leak, you will feel happy, loved, and satisfied.
Yet, if you are surrounded by “takers,” you may be in trouble. They unload their cares on you without caring what you may be dealing with. They can be demanding of you, expecting you to drop what you are doing to meet their needs. They cause you to want to run the other way when you see them coming because you just feel like you can’t take anymore. They constantly drain your emotional tank which can cultivate anxiety, anger, resentment, and even depression.
While we need to be selective in who we regularly spend time with (Jesus certainly did), there will always be takers in each of our lives. So how can we maintain our sanity when we have people constantly pulling from us?
Luke 5:15–16 (CSB): “But the news about him spread even more, and large crowds would come together to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. Yet he often withdrew to deserted places and prayed.”
Did you get that?! There were people who had needs. They were coming to Jesus. But even though they had legitimate needs, they were takers. So, Jesus “often withdrew to deserted places and prayed” and left some of those needs unmet.
Friend, people have needs. People sometimes need help that only we can give. Maybe they need our helping hand. Maybe they need our listening ear. But there are times when the most Christlike thing to do is to step away from other people’s needs in order to meet our own.
Have you ever been on a commercial flight? If so, you have observed the flight attendants tell you that if decompression happens in the cabin, oxygen masks will drop from the ceiling. Each passenger is told to FIRST put on their own mask and THEN put a mask on their child or other dependent.
Why? Why not put the mask on a child before putting your own mask on? Because if you try to meet someone else’s need before meeting your own, you may quickly lose your ability to meet their need and both of you could die. So, focus on meeting your need first so that you can meet the needs of others.
That’s how we are to understand how Jesus was able to meet the needs of “takers.” If he had focused only on meeting others’ needs, He might have depleted his ability to meet those needs long-term. So, He focused on meeting His own needs of silence, solitude, and time with the Lord. In doing so, He was able to continue meeting the needs of others.
That’s a great example to follow. Serve others but make sure that you take care of yourself so that you can continue to serve them.
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Lord Jesus, I want to follow Your example. I want to serve others but I see in Your example that I had better spend time replenishing myself so I can continue being of service to them. I pray this in Your Name. Amen.
Matt’s Musings 