We really need margin in our lives to become aligned with the will of God. He has some important things for us to accomplish during our lives and He also has a purposed way for us to do them but culture keeps pulling us in another direction. The definition of margin is, “the amount available beyond what is necessary.” In other words it is the difference in what you have and what you need. That is called margin. When we plan and schedule our daily lives margin is having more than enough time. Enough time would be having time to listen to your children without continuing to think about work. Margin, or extra time, would make room for us to be interrupted and be happy about it. Margin would be having time to rest, relax and reflect.
Margin is about having time with people that we love and not always fighting because there is never time to connect intimately. Margin is about having plenty of time with the Creator and Sustainer of this Universe, God. Margin for most of us is the thing we simply do not have. I believe God has given me a mandate to help us create margin in the major areas of our lives. All of us would like to have a bit more time for ourselves to enjoy extra time, more time to spend with people we love, and more time to spend with God. I know I would like to have more time to spend with God and those I love.
We would all be blessed with more time, when we see how important time is, but the truth is even if all of sudden God said, “Poof,” and there were twenty five hours in the day we would probably still not have enough time. It is unlikely that most of us would actually spend that time on important things. The reality is that culture has a way of overwhelming whatever margin we have. The last time you had an unexpected day off chances are pretty good that you did not spend extra time with God. Chances are also pretty good that you did not spend time with your loved one and chances are pretty good that what you did was run errands, caught up on chores, tried to get ahead at work and caught up on some emails. Chances are there are many things that felt urgent and that overwhelmed you. You missed another opportunity to enjoy what was truly important in your life.
Culture is like this: If you have ever driven a car and the tires are out of alignment as you keep driving the car keeps pulling one way. Culture is continually trying to pull us off the center as we are going down the road of life. Ephesians 5: 15-17 is a very interesting scripture and tells us this, “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” As we look into effectively scheduling margin in our lives we need to begin to ask a different question than we normally ask. We need to be wise and understand what the Lord’s will is when we start scheduling our lives. Perhaps we should look at how we plan things a bit differently.
If the Word directs us to walk wisely then maybe we should ask different questions. When we schedule where we are going and who we are seeing and what we are doing our first question should be, “Is that a wise decision?” A good example of the question to ask is this, “Is it wise to spend extra time doing this considering that I have teenagers at home who only have a little bit more time in my house before they go off into the college world, or would it be wiser for me to spend time with them right now than do something else?”
Start asking, “Is this wise, since I’ve really been so busy that I’ve not had time to do a Second Saturday serve, I’ve not had time to do a life group, I’ve not had time to do some things that are important, so is it wise?” Tell yourself, “Maybe I should put something important in that time slot instead of saying yes to every request. You may be responding with, “I’ll be there,” and even though it’s not wrong, as a matter of fact it may be and probably is something good but, is it wise? Is it wise you’ve been so busy at work you’ve not had quality time to spend with your family?
It is a much better question to ask ourselves when scheduling time, is it wise? What really struck me is that we only have so many days. Everybody is going to die. The last time I checked the mortality rate was 100%. It is in all our destinies to die yet most of us live like we are going to live in these natural bodies forever. Psalm 90: 10-12 in the NIV version tells us this, “All our days may come to seventy years or eighty if strength endures.” God’s Word tells us we may live to seventy years of age, and by strength, to eighty. If we live a normal, healthy life, without catastrophe or illness we should make it to seventy and by strength to eighty and of course there are some we know that surpass eighty but most of us live to around seventy or eighty. Thank God for eternal life but my point is that as we live out our allotted days God wants us to number them and realize that every day is important. We must make wise decisions when planning and scheduling our lives because you just have a few of them.
What struck me is how much time we spend on things we don’t even give a second thought. In a life time you will spend six months at traffic lights waiting for them to change, you will spend one year of your life looking for misplaced items, you will spend eight months opening junk mail, you will spend two years returning phone calls and leaving messages, you will spend five years waiting in lines, and you will spend three years of your life in meetings.
The list goes on and on and does not even include sleeping. You will spend roughly one third of your life sleeping which by the way, if you live to be seventy-five comes to twenty-five years. There’s not a lot of time to do everything God has asked us to do so we really need to use our time wisely.
So, how do we use our time wisely? I have one key here, learn to say NO. That is very difficult for me and it is going to be difficult for you. What is wild is that it is not just that we have to say no to things, we have to say no to good things and that is what makes it difficult. We have to learn to say no to good things to make room for important things. Here is another really simple key to creating extra time that you can devote to doing something important. You can say no to this activity and that will buy extra time and create margin. The average American watches television twenty eight hours a week. Twenty eight hours a week is an average of four hours a day that the average American watches television. Say no to sitting in front of the television and yes to spending quality time playing board games, laughing, sharing God’s Word and being together. Turn the TV off and catch up on some emails so you won’t have to take time away from them on Saturday when you want to spend time with your family.
You can recreate your own lists of things to create margin. To create margin in our lives there are good things we are going to have to say no to.
We must learn to have the courage and faith to say no to many good things so that we can say yes best things. Good things become the enemy of best things. That is why we must live carefully, not as unwise, but wise people. God has a lot to say about prioritizing time. Matthew 6:33 is all about us living successfully in this life because of God’s purposes and plans, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Seek first the kingdom of God, the kingdom in his righteousness, and all these will be added to you as well. Sometimes I get so busy with good things that I don’t seek the best, His kingdom and His righteousness.
When I get busy with other things my life gets off kilter. When we keep our priorities right with God, He will order our days. Number one, the first thing we should prioritize in our life is our intimate time with God because it is the most important thing we can do. When we daily align our hearts with God’s Word, and His presence, we position ourselves to get more done with the time we
have and create margin to enjoy this life we are living.
