“He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself.” Mt. 14:13
Something in ministry that we all worry about it being available to the people. We should be, but we must remember that need to be refreshed, as well. If we are modeling our lives after Jesus, then let’s model this part of our lives after Him, as well.
Even Jesus would separate Himself for times of emotional recharging (as in the verse above), or times of prayer. That ensured that when He would come back to the people He would have something to give them besides a frazzled, “I’m hanging on by a thread and just barely getting things done”, exhausted, Lord who is only giving them pieces of Himself; or a Lord who hasn’t prayed in 3 days because He hasn’t found the time.
Throughout the gospels you will find Scriptures that show Christ getting away by Himself, or getting away with those closest to Him…away from the multitudes…just to recharge and refocus. See Mt. 17 when He took Peter, James, and John up on the mountain. It was just the 4 of them and they went for 1 special reason. Not everyone was invited to this. Not all 12 disciples, not the whole crowd; and Jesus didn’t just go alone for this one. These were the ones He needed to be with.
It is ok for us to put our phones away for an hour or 2 (get away from the multitude), go off with our certain one or few for something special (or nothing special), or spend time alone recharging so that when we come back we have more to give in our ministries.
Each time Jesus came back from one of those times, the multitudes were waiting and there was work to do. He had compassion on them and got to work, but He was refueled and ready. The work of ministry (and life) will never end, so we must take care to carve out those times of ‘departing’ on our own. No one else can do that for us…no one will.
Let’s be like Jesus and depart from multitude before it gets out of hand. Schedule it if you need to. Refocus, recharge, and come back recharged and ready for ministry…just like Jesus did.
And when He went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with great compassion for them…
jamie
considering the word 