Yesterday, I began a new Sunday Morning series called Margin: Life without Limit.
Jesus understood margin and simplifying. As we said yesterday, relationships happen in the margins of life. I believe that Jesus recognized this truth. God loved Israel so much He gave them margins called the 10 commandments? These laws such as observing the Sabbath day created built in margins that were designed to keep us living a joy-filled abundant life.
Well we as people like to complicate things. Even the most religious of people complicate things too. But Jesus is the great simplifier and is really good at taking the complicated and breaking it down simplistically to create margin for us.
From the days of the Old Testament when the law was given to the time Jesus walked the earth, those 10 commandments had turned into 613 laws about how to live on the Sabbath and how to clean certain dishes and how to wash your hands and how to eat your food and deal in business and tithe to God and socially interact. It was a weight and a burden that left you feeling as if serving God was complicated and stressful.
But when Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, He responded with a simplistic margin filled response. He said, “And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Mark 12:30-31 NKJV)
Jesus brought it back to relationship. Relationship with God and with others. This is the most important priority because true life flows out of relationship. But the enemy will try and get us to live our lives at the edge and get us to believe the lie that if I just squeezed a little time from my relationship with God and from my personal relationships, I could work more hours, be more successful, make more money, have more possessions, and I would be happier.
The truth is, that lie compromises how we were created and leaves us more stressed, unfulfilled, and empty. Ask the Lord to show you areas He may desire to simplify so that relationship can truly flow in the margins of your life.
So thankful for the sermon this week on margin. We have been reflecting almost daily on areas in our lives (especially time and money) in which we need more margin to live in the way that Jesus would want us to. Our family is grateful for the way that God has annointed our Pastor. Awareness of God’s Word and His will for our lives remains with us throughout the week, as Pastor Aaron communicates the Lord’s Message to us in ways that we can understand and apply to daily life.