I recently read a book called Margin. I was very challenged and encouraged by the content in this book. Here is one excerpt that I really liked.
“Do you think Jesus would have carried a pocket calendar? Would He have consulted it before making commitments? Would He have bypassed the leper because His calendar said He was later for the Nazareth spring Banquet?
Do you think Jesus would have worn a wristwatch? What would have been His reaction if the temple service extended past noon and alarms went off in the crowd? Would He have driven out the clock watchers along with the money changers? What would He have thought of the parishioner I knew who weekly timed the pastor’s sermons with a stopwatch and reported the statistics on the way out of church?
Do you think Jesus would have carried a beeper? Would Martha and Mary have paged Him to come raise Lazarus from the dead? Can you imagine Him being paged out of the Last Supper?
The clock and the Christ are not close friends. Imagine what God thinks of us now that we are so locked into schedules that we have locked ourselves out of the Sermon on the Mount — it is hardly possible to walk the second mile today without offending one’s pocket calendar. We jump at the alarm of Seiko but sleep through the call of the Almighty.”
An excerpt from Margin, by Richard A. Swenson, M.D., Copyright © 2009 NavPress
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This is such a challenge for me. I am so many times more concerned with my plans and commitments than what’s going on in the moment. I guess it’s in the moment that we need to seek the Lord for wisdom! I want to be responsible and reliable, but yet I don’t want to be a slave to my schedule, either.
Yeah, well it obviously ministered to (challenged) me because it seems pretty difficult to live. Yet my pursuit is realizing that God is the moment I am in. He and His will are really all that matter. I know I won’t get to the end of my life wishing I had preached more or cranked out one more website. But I might wish I had given more time to my wife and children. It seems today just giving my family time when my schedule calls is a challenge. I am learning to step away from my desk and go play.