Hay in the barn
Proverbs 14:4 “Where there are no Oxen, the manger is empty, but from the strength of an ox comes an abundant harvest”
One thing outreach has taught me is that whatever we do is messy. As we go forward into what Jesus has led us to we inevitably get some hay on the barn floor.
The hay may look like many different things. Challenges to how we personnaly spend our time and our money. Challenges to how we think the church should spend its time and money. In fact, if we aren’t asking those questions then we aren’t doing this well at all. Surely we must “count the cost”. But Christ also reminds us that His is not a “supply and demand” economy. His is an eternal source without limit or end-both for us personally and corporately.
Hay can also look like questioning the purpose of outreach. Is it to save souls? Is it to just be generous? Is it for the needy, the rich, the broken, the saved, the healing or the sick? Is it mass marketing with a twist? Is it self glorifying? Or humble service. I encourage you to re-read the parable of the sower and ask some different questions. Imagine yourself as different characters in Jesus’ story. Maybe you can ask …but what about the seed that lives?
Have you ever been on a farm? As much work as goes into the farming, equally as much goes to care for the animals. The best farmers know that part of benefiting from a work animal is that you have to feed and maintain it in order to get that benefit. The Proverb is a beautiful promise to us that God makes us strong to work the harvest. It doesn’t say “…if the ox is strong…”
The hay of the harvest comes from the farmer’s own field. This morning ask “where is our field? To what crop am I to tend?” Beans don’t grow well in a rice field, but oxen are needed to till the land in both fields.
This week we have several things going on. Two door-to-door outreaches, one Monday and one Friday, and the Kid’s Community Party on Saturday. Consider volunteering for any or all of those events. But, just as importantly, pray for the harvest. Pray that yes we fill the manger, and we get at least a little bit of hay on the floor.
