Keith Battle - Margin - Part 5

We are in a series called «Margin.» It is really the art of trying to balance our resources and our responsibilities. We have so many things that are on us, and the reason why we need this series is that many of us are doing too much; we’re overloaded and overwhelmed. We have all these commitments and responsibilities, and we have limited resources to get it all done. We find ourselves with more tasks than the energy, money, time, strength, and wisdom to accomplish them. We’re just tired; we’re really tired. It’s a tiring world we’re living in, and it’s because of how we have managed—or mismanaged—our schedules. When you don’t have margin in your life, it shows up in various ways. One way it shows up is in how you feel about work. You may not even feel like going to work. Your feelings about work change; it manifests in the condition of your car. You might not have allergies, but dust collects in your car. You have dust on your dashboard and console—it’s like you can comb it! You’ve got old Pepsi and coffee stains in the cup holders, and you have coins that you can’t even pull out because they’re stuck in the old French fry grease. There’s so much junk in the car that if someone needs a ride, you’re like, «Hold up, let me find somewhere for you to sit!» And then you fall behind on maintenance for the car because you just don’t have time to get that fixed. When you’re overloaded and lack margin, it also shows up in your inability to respond to people. You start missing calls, texts, and appointments; your emails stack up, and you miss deadlines. All of these are signs and symptoms of someone living without any margin, with no white space—no space to chill and relax.

We’ve been discussing the importance of margin, particularly last week when we talked about how to achieve margin regarding your physical energy. You need energy to carry out your assignments, because even though God’s yoke is easy and His burden is light, it’s still an assignment—it requires work. Some of us just don’t have the energy to do it. Last week, we addressed the importance of proper nutrition, exercise, and rest, so we can find enough margin in our bodies to have the energy to get our work done. Before I go into what I want to discuss today, I want to emphasize this whole matter of rest. Culturally, we struggle with rest, as we often perceive inactivity as laziness. We have so identified inactivity with something negative that we struggle to rest peacefully. However, at the end of the day, rest is your friend. Yes, sleep is your friend—it truly is.

Have you ever noticed how children fight sleep? They don’t want to go to bed; they see sleep as punishment. It’s like they are born to avoid it! We can laugh at a child fighting sleep, but what about when you’re 41, 29, or 46 years old and still fighting it? How do you fight sleep? You drink energy drinks and try to compensate, doing all sorts of things to keep your energy up so you can avoid what you really need to do: rest. Let me say this: rest is not a luxury; it is a necessity. You need to distinguish between rest and leisure activities. Some of us think leisure activities are the same as resting, but they’re not. For example, playing golf is not resting; you’re playing golf. I have nothing against golf and its ministry, whether it involves putting for Jesus or whatever you call it, but playing any activity means you’re active; you’re not resting. Shopping is not resting, either. Amen? Also, there’s no financial margin in it; at some point, it needs to come to an end. Amen? You see how I looked over there? I’m not looking at anyone in particular, just the person I live with. Amen? There are some people over at Zion for Washington, like a couple of deacons—Deacon Stafford and Deacon Jonathan Harris—who talk about fishing and seem to enjoy it. I’m from Family Heights; I’ve never been fishing and don’t even know what that’s like. But Pastor Randy Pike, our youth pastor, also enjoys fishing, so I said, «Let me see…»