"And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ."
Colossians 3:23–24 (NKJV)
I Know
Margin. Habits. I know what they mean. I’ll prove it.
Margin gives us space/time/freedom to do what we need to do. Good habits help us to do those things well. Both are determined by the choices we make. I understand what margin and habits are but I struggle every day to put them into practice.
I know, as H. Dale Burke says, I am “omni-nothing” and I know that I’m a very, very limited resource but I have to remind myself of those truths every day. Not because I think I’m omni-anything or unlimited, I just don’t want to let people down. I don’t want to disappoint them. But, as I heard Steve Crawley share, or maybe it was Charles Attebery say, “You’re going to disappoint some people; just be sure it’s the right people.”
We may never be what people want us to be or even what we want ourselves to be because the expectations are often unrealistic. But, we must have a standard for the margins and habits in our lives. So how do we know if we have the margins of our lives big enough or the habits of our lives good enough?
I Struggle
We bring our margins and habits, not before people or ourselves, but before our Lord and ask Him to evaluate both. We stand before the truth of Scripture. We stand before the direction of the Holy Spirit. We stand before the love of Jesus. We stand before the plan of the Father. We seek God and His Word to both determine and evaluate the margins and habits of our lives. It is the Lord that we serve. Only the Lord has the authority, wisdom, and power to set the margins and habits of our lives.
23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. Colossians 3:23–24 (NKJV)
My brothers, I know this truth, but I struggle to live it. I know my margins and my habits impact all the MD5 Fs but the balancing point is difficult for me to even find some days much less keep it. It hurts even more when things get out of kilter because I know Jesus deserves better – the BEST - from me.
I Receive
So, when my margins become way to small and my habits become more bad than good, I run to Jesus. I draw nearer to the Lord who loves me and gave Himself for me. I ask His forgiveness, and, by His Grace, He grants it.
He then picks me up, dusts me off, helps me get back in balance, and then – oh, how marvelous - He keeps walking with me. The Omni-Everything and the Limitless One is able to keep me balanced and is even ready to pick me up when I get unbalanced again. Oh, what a gracious and glorious Lord and Savior we serve.
RALI on brothers!
God is Omni-EVERYTHING; I am Omni-nothing. You are a limited resource.
- H. Dale Burke – How to Lead and Still Have a Life.
Mike Book
MD5 Facilitator
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