Making Ourselves Available

“A meaningful life is not about being rich, being popular, being highly educated or being perfect… It is about being real, being humble, being strong and being able to share ourselves and touch the lives of others.”

- Unknown

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

- The Apostle Paul, Philippians 2:3-4

This past week, I was listening to Mike Foster’s message on the Good Samaritan in preparation for writing these devotionals. I was right in the middle of his message, where he talked about the perspective of the Priest and Levite, the religious leaders who were too busy and would have been too inconvenienced to stop and help the Jewish man who had been beaten and left for dead. He compared that with the Samaritan, who recognized that his time was God’s time, and he wanted to share it where and how it was needed. In the midst of listening, my phone buzzed with a text from someone asking if we could talk today at a specific time. I’m listening to Mike’s message; I’m reading the text, and I’m thinking to myself, “That time does not work very well for me today. I should probably say ‘no.’”

How ironic! Here I was, listening to a teaching on being available for God’s purposes, and I was struggling with whether or not a phone call later that day was inconvenient for me. How quickly and easily our own agendas and interests rule the day.

What happened? I sent a text back saying what I could do, rather than what I could not do. I texted that we could talk, but I would need to keep it short, as I only had a certain window available. The individual replied back, “Good enough. Thank you.” One small act of making myself available, even when it seemed inconvenient at the time, served to touch the life of another.

May I, and we, continue to open ourselves up to being available for God’s purposes, and not our own agendas, sharing ourselves and touching the lives of others. Who needs you today?

Pastor Ken

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