Creating Space for What Matters Most
In the book First Things First, Stephen Covey asked this penetrating question, (which I modified a bit) that we would be wise to take to heart as we enter a new year.
Notice Jesus’ response to Martha’s frustration that her sister Mary was sitting and doing nothing, while she was busy serving:
In His response, Jesus not only lovingly admonishes Martha, but He commends Mary for choosing the one necessary thing, which He said, would not be taken from her. Our first calling is not to ministry for Christ, but to intimacy with Christ. Ministry is the outflow of intimacy.
Sometimes we blame circumstances or other people or even the devil for why we neglect to do what we need to do most. But as I've heard it said, it’s not the devil, it’s your decisions.
When we allow things to distract us, it’s often because we aren’t making Holy Spirit directed decisions. Consequently, we may be allowing good things to keep us from the best things.
When we make Holy Spirit inspired decisions to go after what God desires for us, namely greater intimacy with Him, and we depend on His grace to obtain it, we will have it. It will not be taken from us.
Notice what David said, who was a man after God’s heart, about the one thing that he desired above all:
David made his highest priority, being in God’s presence, a matter of prayer. He asked God for the one thing he desired most; God himself. Moreover, he sought after what he desired. He put himself in a position to experience God.
Jesus said, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Luke 11:9) What is the one thing you want most from the Lord? What are you seeking after with all your heart? Do you just want something from God or do you want God Himself?
What is the one thing that you know if you did superbly well and consistently would have significant positive results in your walk with God? Then, if you know this would make such a significant difference, why didn’t you do it this past week?”
The answer is, we haven’t chosen, with the help and guidance of the Spirit, to make the one thing a non-negotiable priority in our lives.
If we are convinced that the first thing is communion with Jesus in His Word, in prayer, and in fellowship with other believers, then we need to choose in dependence upon God to make that a priority in our lives. And that means we are going to have to say no to certain things, even good things.
We are going to have to prayerfully make adjustments to our schedules. We will need to choose to make space for God and create margin for the things that matter most.
As Daniel Henderson put it:
How can we create margin in order to cultivate new rhythms which will help us flourish in community and grow healthier spiritually, emotionally, and even physically?
First, we need to determine what matters most. What are the priorities?
We can scripturally conclude that our first priority is to love God and the second is to love people (Luke 10:25-28). God has to be first because you cannot properly love your family or others without receiving and responding to God’s love.
I appreciate how Bruce Zachary, Pastor of leadership development, put it
Secondly, to create margin we must not only determine the priorities, but we must discover and evaluate how we are spending our time. "Take a week or month to consider how you use your time. Consider entering in a calendar your actual use of time to see the patterns and rhythms that emerge. What changes need to be made to free-up time?” (Bruce Zachary)
Thirdly, prayerfully seek to discern how God would have you make the best use of time. Let me briefly share 3 ways to enhance and enrich our lives by essential disciplines that we need to consider making time for.
Bottom line, as Bruce Zachary put it: “[Seek to] cultivate new rhythms resulting in new habits. Schedule new practices for what matters most and zealously protect that time from intrusion. Learn to say “No” to non-critical encroachers. Passionately protect margin, because in the margin is where you discover and enjoy what matters most.”
In a newsletter aimed at inspiring creativity, Lance Odegard shared this powerful insight about the great inventor Thomas Edison:
I want to suggest to you that there is no greater choice you can make than to create margin in your life for the things that matter most. And there is no greater space you can make than reallocating time for the practice of scripture-fed, Spirt-led, worship-based prayer.
Communion with God is what we were made for, its what Jesus shed His blood for, and its what will allow us to live a meaningful life and accomplish God’s purposes. Fail here we fail everywhere.
Do you realize that Jesus desires to make His presence known in our lives? He is knocking on the door of our lives so that He might come in and dwell with us in all His fullness.
But we must open the door. We must welcome Him in. We must say yes and amen to making communion with Jesus the one thing above all things that we will ask of the Lord and seek after with all our hearts.
Will you say yes to His will and to His ways? As we prepare to enter a new year, take some time to reflect and respond to God in prayer and say yes in the Spirit to making your pursuit of God and His kingdom the one great passion of your lives. Making space for what matters most will make the greatest difference in our lives.
Happy New Year,
Pastor Marco
What is the one thing you know that if you did superbly well and consistently would have the most significant positive result in your life?
Notice Jesus’ response to Martha’s frustration that her sister Mary was sitting and doing nothing, while she was busy serving:
“But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:41-42
In His response, Jesus not only lovingly admonishes Martha, but He commends Mary for choosing the one necessary thing, which He said, would not be taken from her. Our first calling is not to ministry for Christ, but to intimacy with Christ. Ministry is the outflow of intimacy.
Sometimes we blame circumstances or other people or even the devil for why we neglect to do what we need to do most. But as I've heard it said, it’s not the devil, it’s your decisions.
When we allow things to distract us, it’s often because we aren’t making Holy Spirit directed decisions. Consequently, we may be allowing good things to keep us from the best things.
When we make Holy Spirit inspired decisions to go after what God desires for us, namely greater intimacy with Him, and we depend on His grace to obtain it, we will have it. It will not be taken from us.
Notice what David said, who was a man after God’s heart, about the one thing that he desired above all:
“One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.” Psalm 27:4
David made his highest priority, being in God’s presence, a matter of prayer. He asked God for the one thing he desired most; God himself. Moreover, he sought after what he desired. He put himself in a position to experience God.
Jesus said, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Luke 11:9) What is the one thing you want most from the Lord? What are you seeking after with all your heart? Do you just want something from God or do you want God Himself?
What is the one thing that you know if you did superbly well and consistently would have significant positive results in your walk with God? Then, if you know this would make such a significant difference, why didn’t you do it this past week?”
The answer is, we haven’t chosen, with the help and guidance of the Spirit, to make the one thing a non-negotiable priority in our lives.
If we are convinced that the first thing is communion with Jesus in His Word, in prayer, and in fellowship with other believers, then we need to choose in dependence upon God to make that a priority in our lives. And that means we are going to have to say no to certain things, even good things.
We are going to have to prayerfully make adjustments to our schedules. We will need to choose to make space for God and create margin for the things that matter most.
As Daniel Henderson put it:
“Anyone in a ministry leadership role soon learns that you cannot please everyone and cannot do everything. It is not easy to say “no” to the expectations of people and the countless opportunities to do good things. Yet, “no” is a Christian word. I have learned that the power of “no” is in a stronger “yes.” Our “yes” commitments are the clear and vital priorities we embrace. One leader wrote, “A life in which anything goes will ultimately be a life in which nothing goes.”
How can we create margin in order to cultivate new rhythms which will help us flourish in community and grow healthier spiritually, emotionally, and even physically?
First, we need to determine what matters most. What are the priorities?
We can scripturally conclude that our first priority is to love God and the second is to love people (Luke 10:25-28). God has to be first because you cannot properly love your family or others without receiving and responding to God’s love.
I appreciate how Bruce Zachary, Pastor of leadership development, put it
“Imagine the many spheres of life that people are trying to juggle: personal health, recreation, school, career, friends, family, God, etc. As you juggle those spheres, keep in mind that most of them are “rubber” in the sense that if you drop them, the consequences are manageable. On the other hand, the marriage and family spheres are like “glass,” so you don’t want to drop them. Making God the priority will allow you to balance and maintain the other spheres properly without damaging them.”
Secondly, to create margin we must not only determine the priorities, but we must discover and evaluate how we are spending our time. "Take a week or month to consider how you use your time. Consider entering in a calendar your actual use of time to see the patterns and rhythms that emerge. What changes need to be made to free-up time?” (Bruce Zachary)
Thirdly, prayerfully seek to discern how God would have you make the best use of time. Let me briefly share 3 ways to enhance and enrich our lives by essential disciplines that we need to consider making time for.
First, we must consider spiritual disciplines to enhance our relationship with God: Bible learning, private prayer, meditation, journaling, Sunday worship, corporate prayer, and serving in a ministry.
Next, we must consider relational disciplines that enhance our relationships with our spouse, family, friends, and neighbors. These might include: date nights, family devotional time and prayer, family meals, weekly time spent with friends and neighbors talking, sharing a meal, or recreation.
Furthermore, we must consider personal disciplines to enhance our health. Consider your sleep patterns, diet, exercise, content consumption, and harmful addictions, like cigarette smoking and alcohol that you may need to seek help to overcome.
Bottom line, as Bruce Zachary put it: “[Seek to] cultivate new rhythms resulting in new habits. Schedule new practices for what matters most and zealously protect that time from intrusion. Learn to say “No” to non-critical encroachers. Passionately protect margin, because in the margin is where you discover and enjoy what matters most.”
In a newsletter aimed at inspiring creativity, Lance Odegard shared this powerful insight about the great inventor Thomas Edison:
"Edison invented the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and the electric light bulb. Along with being a prolific inventor he was also a horrible fisherman. Nearly every day he would leave for an hour and go fishing and never catch a fish. How could someone so inventive not invent a better way to fish? How could a genius be this bad?
Someone finally asked him if he knew why he wasn’t a very good fisherman. His response: “I never caught any fish because I never used any bait.” When asked why he did this, he replied, “Because when you fish without bait, people don’t bother you, and neither do fish. It provides me my best time to think.”
What was Edison really after? Space.
The invention beneath all of his inventions was a faulty fishing practice that afforded him what he most needed: space to think, space to consider, space to create. Space where silence and slowness could grow, and alongside them, ideas and even light.
And then it happened. One day, while fishing with a bamboo pole, he had the insight to try bamboo as the filament for the first ever electric light bulb. "
I want to suggest to you that there is no greater choice you can make than to create margin in your life for the things that matter most. And there is no greater space you can make than reallocating time for the practice of scripture-fed, Spirt-led, worship-based prayer.
Communion with God is what we were made for, its what Jesus shed His blood for, and its what will allow us to live a meaningful life and accomplish God’s purposes. Fail here we fail everywhere.
Do you realize that Jesus desires to make His presence known in our lives? He is knocking on the door of our lives so that He might come in and dwell with us in all His fullness.
But we must open the door. We must welcome Him in. We must say yes and amen to making communion with Jesus the one thing above all things that we will ask of the Lord and seek after with all our hearts.
Will you say yes to His will and to His ways? As we prepare to enter a new year, take some time to reflect and respond to God in prayer and say yes in the Spirit to making your pursuit of God and His kingdom the one great passion of your lives. Making space for what matters most will make the greatest difference in our lives.
Happy New Year,
Pastor Marco