Stinky Stable or Stinky Life?

 

 

Where no oxen are, the manger is clean; but much revenue comes from the strength of an ox.

Proverbs 14:4

 

I thought of another Proverb that could be the next in line.

"Where no babies are, the urine smell is minimal; but much joy comes from the laughter of a child."

Can you imagine the joys that we would miss out on if our primary focus in life was to keep things simply and clean? No home projects would ever be undertaken no matter how badly they are needed because something always has to get torn out or down before it can be built back up. No babies would ever be born for fear of the chaos of the terrible twos, terrible threes, and terrible teens. (Seriously, why do you people have to try to suck the joy out of child rearing by continually saying, "Oh just wait...it gets worse."!?) No teams would ever be put together because wherever there is more than one person working on something, there is bound to be a difference of opinion. And no ministry would EVER get done because ministry is messy! 

What if Jesus had preferred to work solo instead of having to continually bring the apostles up to speed on the meanings of the parables late at night, quiet their bickering over who was the greatest, and tell them the same things over and over and over again (like, "hey guys, being Messiah means they are going to kill me, not crown me.") Sounds a bit like child rearing doesn't it? And yet, that was God's plan for starting the church- 12 very imperfect and very messy guys. Jesus could have led a much simpler life by staying the carpentry shop and teaching people about the kingdom every time they placed an order. But that wasn't God's plan for Him. 

So often we worry about staying safe. Keeping clean. Maintaining control. Keeping up appearances of order and respect. There's only one problem with the safest, cleanest, most controlled and respectfully arranged stable...

IT DOESN'T HAVE ANY OXEN! 

No work is being done. No land is being tilled. No harvest is being brought in because the priority of the day is prevention instead of invention and safety instead of success. 

How about you and your family? I am not anywhere close to saying that order and safety and "staying clean" (spiritually, physically, emotionally, etc.) is not important. But is it possible that sometimes we are so cautious that we forget that we have a job to do? A job that the Master of the Harvest Himself has both ordered and enabled us to do?

I want my family to be safe. I want them to have order and to keep up appearances. I want them to be clean in all the different ways that cleanliness can be thought of. But, at least in principle, I would trade all of that in to know that they are fulfilling God's purposes for their lives. Because if they are not, then the most sanitized life in the world will still lead a life that is without meaning and without God. As a father, I pray that God will give me the courage- not just in principle but in actuality- to lead my family to Him and His purposes instead of simply to orderliness and cleanliness. And I am confident that if I do, God's spirit who is working in us will lead us to true cleanliness and safety from the inside out instead of just clean stables that look nice but produce nothing with eternal significance.

How about you? What do you need to quit worrying about because while the work may be messy, the job is getting done? What  work needs to be done that you have avoided so far for fear of getting your stable "dirty?" Let's roll up our sleeves, and quit worrying about having a clean stable and worry instead about having a working stable!

So far, the conversation hasn't started up very much...take a minute to leave a thought below. What does this proverb mean to you? How have you implemented it's truth in your life? Where have you seen this principle at work? Did I miss it completely? Let me know:)