“Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean,
but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.”
– Proverbs 14:4
There is messiness and cost required to accomplish what is truly important and ultimately good. There is ongoing expense and effort necessary to do what’s best for others and for ourselves. We must be willing to embrace that, even as our culture preaches messages of short-sighted, self-centered simplicity and false frugality.
Today we’ve often embraced a false economy around keeping things in our lives simple. While simplicity can be a virtue, it can also be an excuse to avoid engaging in what matters most! Avoiding hard and messy things might make us happy in the near-term, but leave us starving – physically, emotionally or spiritually – in the long term.
Likewise we (individually and as churches) can be penny-wise and pound-foolish in pursuing false economies built on doing nothing. We certainly may find near-term savings of either money or effort, but true productivity and fruitfulness generally requires some messiness, some up-front expense, and some ongoing effort. We must be willing to embrace that if we want to experience the abundant fruitfulness God desires for us.
We must be willing to let go of small short-term benefits and economies (like a clean, elegant, and cost-free food trough) to pursue long-term abundance and fruitfulness (by investing our energy and resources in true productivity). We must be willing to pay near-term costs for long-term Kingdom gains and embrace the messiness of ministry to enjoy eventual abundant fruitfulness for God’s Kingdom.