I had the privilege of teaching in “big church” the past two Sundays. The series was called “Home Improvement.” You can listen here. Or download the podcast.

First we looked at the importance of the foundation, which was found in Deuteronomy 6.
The big idea: Obedience in my home starts with ME!

We are called to hear and obey God’s Word, then pass it along to our children. Moses uses a literary device of talking in extremes to make the point that we do this all day, every day, in every situation.

Second, we looked at the importance of creating margin in our lives.
Another big idea: Margin in my life begins in my time with God.

God built in the Sabbath to make His people rest and remember that it is HE who provides and delivers! Margin is ultimately about faith! Do we trust God to provide if we stop working for a day? Do we trust God with our future enough to not try to secure it every minute of every day?

Does your family have margin? Do you have time to take walks along the road and sit down to meals?

5 Practical Ways to Create Margin (I got these from Lloyd Shadrach):
1. Keep the FIRST Person FIRST. – Jesus Christ. Your first love.
2. Get there EARLY.
3. Prune ACTIVITIES and POSSESSIONS – sometimes pruning means cutting out good things for the overall health of the plant.
4. SHEDULE what is IMPORTANT to you. Otherwise the urgent will push out the important. This means you may need to actually schedule your time with God.
5. Put margin in your calendar. The biggest thing God may have for you on any given day is probably not on your calendar. Hopefully we will have the margin to experience it.

There was a great response to these two messages, which tells me that God is speaking to His people about the importance of their families and how they manage time in their lives. We could have spent three more weeks on this stuff!