Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
9/29/2021
AVAILABILITY vs. Self-Centeredness
“Making my own schedule and priorities secondary to the wishes of those I serve”.
Mark 1:17-17 And Jesus said unto them, ”Come yea after me, and I will make you become fishers of men”. And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him."
I don’t believe the work ethic of that time would include some folks called the Clampett’s sitting on their porch smoking their pipe and waiting for the oil to give up its bubbling crude. These were hard-working, busy, morning till night working men. But it appears they dropped everything and followed Jesus.
Who does that? How can that really be? Today I think people see that being available is sitting around and waiting for God to call while you really are not doing much.
No, they were doing work that was not related to God or church or ministry. But when Jesus spoke they were willing to drop it all! They dropped their career and picked up his career with no idea what it would entail.
Availability is much more than a desire to do God’s work or even an attitude of wanting to, it is stepping out in faith. It is action at its highest level. Do you remember the scene in Indiana Jones The Last Crusade as he needed to cross this wide abyss to try and reach the holy grail? He had to step out in faith. He didn’t know in the natural that a stone pathway would appear as soon as he took a step that he couldn’t return from. When our priorities are right. When we have our eyes focused on the Master. It is a commitment to not hold anything tighter than my heart-felt desire to serve God. To Love God. To commit my all to him.
If you look at the Judges of the old testament. They spent a lifetime in dedicated work serving God and God’s people. Those pieces of parchment, our bible, God’s inspiration through common, often uneducated men, were written by simple men. They lived their lives with availability.
Isaiah 8 1-8 spoke in verse 5. "Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. 6 Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. 8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me."
He didn’t say, let me check my schedule, agenda, or plans. Isaiah and these patriarchs of our faith made personal priorities secondary to the needs of God and others. But we say, this era is different. We have real commitments. I have a family that depends on me. How can I… How could I do this?
So may I ask: 1. How do you define availability?
2. Is it a marked priority for you to serve God and His children? List them.
3. What happens in our relationship with God, and with others, when we become pursuers first of our own needs and time rather than being available?
4. Where did you fail to be available?
5. What area in your life would improve if you were available?
We have a God that was so available he kept forgiving Israel. He kept pursuing them, even in their idolatry and selfishness. He never stops pursuing his children to fulfill the promise he made to Abraham and so many others.
We… in all our sin and rejection of God…are called a priesthood and a holy nation and he will not take it back. Do you see the nature of God in this availability he has given to us? To be in a relationship with him. To laugh and talk and see things through a God filter and be with him for eternity.
Being available to others is a form of praise and worship and is pleasing to God Hebrews 13:15-16. What sacrifice do you bring to God today? It is what flows from your heart, to love and adore our God and in so doing his children. Our brothers and sisters.
Romans 12:4-8 4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ, we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your[a] faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead,[b] do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.
Col. 3: We must get rid of the old self and embrace this new life of being available to God. We must humble ourselves, admit when we are wrong, and seek God first with our whole heart and mind, and soul.
Let’s pray silently today as God gives you words and direction.
Mercy Me Almost Home
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7WEYwZrrs4
Excerpts are taken from R. J. Krejcir The Character of Availability
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