Numbered Days
God says that we must live as a people who number our days. This means that we are to be stewards of our time. We must steward the hours that God gives to you and to me. We all have 24 hours and none of us have any more or any less.
Load vs. Limit
Margins may be defined as “the space between your load and your limit.” The load represents the things that you carry every day. You reach a limit when you crack and go over the edge. Synonyms for margin include a buffer, space, reserves, or reservoir.
Sometimes it helps us to understand a word when we define it by its antonym or opposite. Some opposites of margins include zero tolerance, on the edge, overload, stress, debt, or irritability. We can all relate to these, especially the last three.
Let me give you some examples. Suppose you make $100 and you spend $80. You have a margin of $20. But if you make $100 and you spend $120, what do you have? You have trouble! You have a margin-less financial situation. You are in debt. You are in overload. You are on the edge.
The problem is we not only do that with our finances, but most people do that with everything in their lives. They spend 120%.
Here is another example of no margin. The phone is ringing. The kids are fighting. Your spouse wants his meal. You’re trying to get dressed for church that started five minutes ago and you live thirty minutes away.
Necessary Margins
If you lived in a perfect world and had no problems at all, you wouldn’t need margins. But guess where you get the tolerance and patience for problems? It comes from the margins of your life.
Let me explain it to you another way. When you look into books, you notice spaces located around the edges of the pages called a margin. It is usually an inch or so around the edge. A margin is necessary. Every page contains one. The words don’t go from edge-to-edge of the paper. Margins are present because they help make the pages more readable.
Someone could look at that margin in a book and flip all of the pages saying, “What a stupid idea! Do you know what someone could do to conserve space? They could get words from exactly one edge and run it completely to the other edge and leave no spaces so that you could get more words on a page. Do you know what? If you did that, you could save sixty pages out of some books. Just think of the amount of trees we would conserve! We would also save money. The book would cost less.”
But, how many of you would read a book where the words went from edge-to-edge, all the way across? It would not be very readable. Although the contents would still be there, not many people would want to read it. Why? Because it contained no margins!
I took one of my books and measured the margins. I figured it out mathematically and the amount of margins on one page takes up 40% of the space. Forty percent is white space.
When people read books, no one will ever begrudge the book its margins. No one would say, “It is stupid for this book to have so many margins.” No, not at all! The margins are a part of the readability of the book. In fact, if someone put words from edge-to-edge, we would call that “stupid.” However, we live our lives like that sometimes. We live margin-less existences until there is zero tolerance.
INCORRECT WAYS TO BUILD MARGINS
1. Speed
One way we try to make up for margin-less lives in incorrect ways is with speed. You have five minutes to get from point A to point B. You leave one minute before you should be there. How do you make up margins? Hurry!
I see it every day on the freeway. Whiz! Whiz! Margin-less lives! That is what we do. We try to increase our pace. We try to push more into a short amount of time. Hence, we get into accidents. We get irritable. We get angry at each other. Why? Because one of the incorrect ways to build margins is to try to take shortcuts. We try to cheat life by going faster to build a margin. You can’t do it. It will kill you! Hence the slogan: Speed Kills!
2. Dissipation
That is a Bible word for “squandering or taking something that God has blessed and using it for another purpose.” Let me give you some examples:
When we don’t have margins in our lives, instead of building margins correctly, we take drugs. If you are so stressed, you will take a couple of lines of “coke” to settle you down. I have a good friend who does exactly that. When he is too stressed, he takes cocaine and it settles him down. At least that is what he says. He lost his job. He lost his business. He lost his family. He lost all of his bank account. Drugs Kill!
One of the ways that we attempt to gain more margins is by numbing ourselves with drugs. Alcohol has been used for years. We can’t handle the stress in our margin-less lives, so we try to drown it with alcohol; that way we don’t have to think about it.
Another is having an extra-marital affair. You have stress at home. You have margin-less lives with your family and you look for a stress-releaser in an extra-marital affair.
Another method used is workaholism! You pour yourself into your occupation. Why? When you dive into your work, you don’t have to think about everything else. It is a wrong and incorrect way to assemble margins in your life.
Every single one of us needs margins because that is where character is developed. The margin contains the tolerance that we have for each another. Located in the margin are your mistakes— you can handle these errors because your slip-ups cut into your margin. But if you are on the edge, every little thing that someone does wrong pokes at you. Margins afford you plenty of “buffers” so you can handle the things that are going wrong.
Jesus was probably the busiest person alive! If you read through the gospels, you’ll be amazed at all Jesus accomplished! One day He preached from early morning to late at night and when He finished, He had 5,000 people who were hungry. He fed them! The next day He prayed before it was even dawn. Before He finished, people were looking for Him saying, “Lord, where were you? Everybody was looking for you. They wanted to hear more.”
Jesus came down and then a demon guy began chasing Him. He said, “Let’s get in the boat and go across the Sea of Galilee.” He got into the boat and a storm hit. Kaboom! His disciples said, “We’re perishing!”
They finally got over to the other side and another demon guy came out of the tombs and chased Him. Then they finally said, “Get out of this place!” He went to another town and a man said, “My daughter is sick. Come and heal her!”
On the way to heal her, a lady with a hemorrhage came and pulled on his garment. He was so busy! But was He stressed? Somewhere He built margins.
If we are margin-less, we are pushed to the edge. In so many marriages, the husband is right on the edge. He has no buffer between himself and the edge of the cliff. He has eaten up all of the extra space and the words go completely across his page. He is walking a tightrope and on the verge of falling off.
There he is on the brink, and when he comes home his wife says,
“Hey, the stove is broken. You need to work on it.”
“No, I can’t!”
“Why?”
“I don’t have time.”
“The kids are also giving me a hard time.”
“Don’t push me!"
“Why?”
“I’m near my limit!”
“You better be a better husband and take out the garbage!”
“Don’t push me! Don’t push me!”
Anger and irritability flares up. Why? Because he is emotionally right on the edge. We live that way and wonder why we can’t build character in our lives. We wonder why there is no patience that we can draw on from our lives. There is no tolerance. When anybody does anything wrong, our kids or our spouse, we feel pushed to the periphery! “Don’t do that! Don’t tell me that! Don’t be late!” Why? Because we live on the border and make it a normal way of living in our society. We wonder why there is no character or depth.
It is in the midst of the margins where you develop things like character and joy. If you possess no margin, you will never have joy because that’s where all the character resides. There is peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Where are all of those character qualities found? Where are all the fruits of the Spirit bearing its fruit? Yes, that’s right, in the margins of our lives. Our lives are fruitless when we lack these margins. That is why our marriages become fruitless.
CORRECT WAYS TO INCREASE OUR MARGINS
Develop a Great Attitude
Do you know that no one has been given an unalterable attitude? Every single person has been given an attitude that can increase in its value. You must be willing to develop a great attitude.
“Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant…” (Philippians 2:5-7 NASB).
So what is the Bible saying? Develop a Christ-like attitude. Jesus was so busy, but did you see Him getting flustered all the time? There is something about His perspective.
“The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23 NASB).
When the Bible talks about the lamp of the body being the eye, it’s not talking about your eyeball. It’s talking about your perception - the way you perceive things, the way you look at things. You can look at things poorly or you can look at things in a beneficial, good way.
About two years ago, my wife, Anna, and I were departing from Japan in the middle of winter. It was freezing cold and we wanted something warm. We stopped at a café to have tea. A lady came out walking with small steps just like a robot. We were sitting before this long, ebony black, varnished table on zabutons (floor cushions).
She came and asked us in Japanese, “Would you like tea?”
We replied, “Yes, we would very much like some tea.”
She said, “What kind would you like? We have Genmaicha, Hojicha, or Umecha.”
My wife said, “I would like some Hojicha.”
She said, “Okay, what about you?”
I thought, “I’ll try the Umecha.” I did not know that it was the salty ume (pickled plum). I figured it would be like regular plums - you know, sweet. When she brought it, she waited to see how we liked it.
My wife drank hers and said, “Ummm! Oishii (good)!"
Then I drank mine and it tasted like salty seawater! It was so bad! I put it away from my lips and she said, “How do you like it?”
I said, “It’s very good!”
My wife looked at me and she said, “You’re lying!”
I said, “You taste this thing! It tastes like stale ocean water.”
She said, “No, it doesn’t!”
I said, “Taste it. It tastes horrible.”
She said, “Don’t think of it as ocean water. Think of it as Campbell’s Chicken Soup.”
I said, “Right!”
She said, “Really!”
I said, “You think of it as chicken soup. Go ahead.”
She drank it and said, “Ummm! This thing tastes just like Campbell’s Chicken Soup.”
I said, “You’re lying!”
She said, “Try it. Just try it!”
Since I am a man of the cloth, I looked at it and said, “Thou art chicken soup. Thou art not ocean water.” I drank it and it tasted just like Campbell’s Chicken Soup. It was good!
I laughed about it later because it was funny how when I looked at it as ocean water it tasted bitter and terrible. But at the same time, when I thought of it as chicken soup, it wasn’t so bad after all.
I think a lot of us have been looking at life as if it is stale ocean water. Maybe we should start looking at life as chicken soup. It all depends on how you perceive things.
Jesus said we are to possess an attitude in ourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus. It depends on what you are looking for. If you are looking for something that’s bad, you will find what’s bad.
There were two prisoners lying on a bunk in a prison cell. It was a beautiful night and one of the prisoners looked out and said, “Hey, Joe, look at the stars. They are beautiful!”
Joe, in his crabby attitude, craned his neck and looked out and said, “I don’t see any stars. All I see are the bars.”
It’s funny how one saw the stars and the other saw the bars. It all depends on what you’re looking for. If you are looking for the bars or why things can’t be done, then all you are going to see is what is wrong with things. If you can look through them, you will see the stars.
The lamp of the body is your eye. If your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.
Develop a great attitude. Even though your plate may be somewhat full, you will find that you will have margins in there. Why? Because a lot of your margins are eaten up by stinky attitudes. It’s as if your bad attitude eats up any buffer you have. It requires energy. It requires battery stuff. If you’ve got a bad attitude, it eats up your batteries. But, if you’ve got a great attitude, it builds margins. It builds tolerance levels. In fact, it increases your margins. So instead of an 8-1/2 x 11 page it will turn into an 11 x 17 page. You will have great margins.
It all depends on the lamp, so develop a great attitude.
Start Earlier
Instead of using speed to catch up, start earlier. If you have thirty minutes to get some place, get going at an earlier time.
How many times do we get up only about five minutes before we are supposed to leave the house? We are supposed to be on the road at 7:00 a.m. and we get up at five minutes before then, and then rush, rush, rush. The best is to start off earlier.
Let me give you a scripture out of Proverbs. It says,
“…the precious possession of a man is diligence.” (Proverbs 12:27 NASB).
The word “diligence” in its etymology comes from the word, “daily.” It started with the word, “daylight.”
A person who was diligent started before daylight to bring his or her profitable wares to the marketplace before anybody else would get there. The marketplace would gather like the center of a town where vendors would come and set up their cucumbers or whatever it might be. They would get the best spot if they started at daylight.
Not only did these people get the best spot because they started at daylight but they did it daily. We get the impression of someone who is diligent.
The Bible is instructing us on how important it is, if we are going to build margins, to start earlier. Start your morning earlier. Get up at an earlier time. Develop an ability to be diligent in getting up so that you can have your quiet time. Start a little earlier going places. Start a little earlier in planning. Start a little earlier in whatever you might need to do.
“Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:15-16 NASB).
The Bible is saying, “Don’t be unwise, but wise” in making the most of your time.
Fillers and Drainers
Each of us have an emotional reservoir. It’s like a big tank. Your emotional reservoir needs to be full. If you are running on empty or your emotions are low, then you are on the verge of an emotional breakdown because you have no emotional energy.
It may sound really trite, but you need emotional energy to be kind. You need emotional energy to be gentle to someone who is not gentle to you.
When I do a funeral, I need emotional energy because it pulls a lot out of me. There are certain things that drain me, not that they are wrong, but they just drain me. There are certain activities that pull your emotional energy. If you have none left, you will not be kind. You will not be hospitable. There will be no joy in your life because to have joy requires emotional energy. Joy becomes a choice that you make.
So, here is your emotional reservoir. Certain things go into your emotional reservoir to fill you up.
I love to worship God. It fills my tank. I love fellowship. That fills my tank! You need to know what fills your reserves--what fills your tank.
Also, you need to know what drains your tank. There are certain things that will drain your tank and pull from you--you need to know what both are. When you don’t know what fills your tank, by default, you will be so involved in doing things that you are giving life away--giving energy away--and you are not filling your tank.
What happens is that after about 3, 4, or 5 months, you will find that you are really running on empty. Before you know it, you are on the edge and you are living a margin-less life. You still go to church. You still try to do the things that are supposedly Christian, but it’s not enough to fill your tank because there is something draining you.
If your marriage is going bad or you’re struggling with your kids, you’ve got a major drain happening. If you’re having a financial struggle, it starts a major drain. If you are having relationship problems, it begins to sap your energy.
What happens is that sometimes you cannot stop the drain because it’s just something you have to deal with. If that happens, you must make sure you fill the reservoir. Make sure the input is strong and filling you.
Think about what fills up your tank and write it down. If you can work these things into your week, this will help you with the drain.
Secondly, write down what depletes your tank. Now, again, it doesn’t necessarily need to be something that is wrong. It is just something that drains your tank.
What drains my tank?
1. Excessive Counseling. When I have to sit and do a lot of counseling, back-to-back, it just drains me. I go home and I am bushed. Emotionally I am drained. I love to do it, but it drains my tank.
2. Hanging Around Complainers. This may sound funny but whenever anybody
makes a complaint, it just drains my tank. So, I don’t hang around people who complain. I just make a getaway and go away. It drains me.
3. Feeling Useless. If I am hanging around a group of people and I can’t make a difference or if I am part of a club or committee and am not making a difference, I will resign from it because it just drains me to just be in a meeting. Every moment I am sitting there is just draining me. I can feel my whole body deflating.
4. Funerals/Hospital Visits. These kinds of activities are good activities. I want to do them, but they drain me.
What fills my tank?
1. Riding my Motorcycle. It’s something that really fills my tank! So, on Mondays, I get on my Harley and I take off. Sometimes I just go around the whole island all by myself. I just enjoy being in the wind and going out. I stop at Sunset Beach; read my Bible and put it back in my backpack; go to the coffee shop; take it out and read it; and put it back into my backpack. I come home and I feel so good! It fills my tank!
2. Sports. I enjoy participating in sports. That is something that fills my tank.
3. Reading and Studying. When I study for my messages or read the Word of God, it really fills my tank. I love reading books. A lot of times I will read two or three books at a time. I enjoy reading and I read all the time.
4. Speaking/Preaching. I enjoy that and building leaders in this church. Those things fill my tank.
I need to know what fills my tank and what drains it. There are some of the drains I can’t remove from my life. As a pastor, I will do counseling and I will make hospital visits. I will do those kinds of things but because I know it’s draining, I’ve got to replenish my tank.
If I’ve got a lot of negative things that are draining me on one side, I’ve got to make sure that I fill up on the other side. Sometimes you ask, “Why don’t you just take away the negatives?” You can sometimes, but other times you cannot because it is your responsibility and you have to work through it. It’s okay! It builds character when you have negatives on your graph.
What does that mean? It means you just need to put some more on the “positive” side so that you are filling your tank because you know that there is going to be a drain. What we do a lot of times is we just remove all of the negatives. We bail out of relationships. We bail out of churches. We bail out of financial things. We bail out of everything. We think that is the only way to get relief! It isn’t! You may get temporary relief but you lose character; you lose responsibility; and you lose your reputation along the way.
If God is saying that those are some drains on your life and you are not able to get rid of them right now, then you must be sure that you are having things that fill your tank. Work it into you schedule so that you keep margins in your life.
BUILD MARGINS
I want to encourage you to build margins. It is such a crucial aspect of living. That is where character is built. Character is always built in the margins. Fruit always comes from the margins. If you have no margins, you will have a fruitless life. If you learn to build margins, then you will notice that you have time to be gentle.
Take the time to have a great attitude. Build it into your life. Also, start earlier. Know what fills your tank and what doesn’t.
Take Sabbath moments. Slow down. Slow down your driving. Slow down your walking. Take time to sit on the bench just for a little while. Don’t fill your plate so full that it doesn’t leave you time to just stop and get a soda by yourself and talk with Jesus.
Build margins into your life. I guarantee that when you do, you will start to see character and fruitfulness coming to the surface.
