“Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase
is by the strength of the ox.” –
Proverbs 14:4
The
book of Proverbs is a beautiful book. In
it, we find ancient sayings from the wise passed down in short sentences to
educate those who would like to be wise on how to be wise. These proverbs have practical application as
much as spiritual. So it is in this
little zinger “where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by
the strength of the ox.” A more modern
illustration of this might be “where no dishes are the kitchen is clean, but
many meals are made by the use of dishes.”
The immediate application is such: if you do not have or use dishes to
make supper, then you will not have to bother with cleaning them (which is hard
and a pain). However, you will not have
a family dinner either; which means you will not feed your family or give your
family a reason to gather around the table every night. The question becomes, do you value a home
cooked meal enough to cook and clean? In
the days of Solomon (the author of this proverb), the question was; do you
value the abundance of corn and wheat that an ox will bring, more than the time
spent to clean his crib? Bottom line: IS
IT WORTH IT?
All
through life, we find ourselves using this “is it worth it?” line of
thinking. We pro-con things, and measure
the value of our input vs. the value of the output. This is not always foolish thinking. When you go to buy a new car, and you have a
family of five; do you look at a red Corvette?
Is it worth it? How much output
will be given to your family verse the input that you will give to the
Corvette? (Not worth it, get the minivan bro)
This line of thinking is not foolish, but what is foolish is when the
output is far and above the input; yet folks still refuse to purchase an
ox. On average, my mother cooked AND
cleaned for us at least 5 nights a week (not including the Sunday supper after
church every Sunday). That took A LOT of
work for about a 30-minute meal. I would
say by the time she brought the groceries, cooked, and cleaned the total time
spent to do it all 5 meals was every bit of 15 hours. The total time it took us to eat those five
meals, 2 hours at most. Was it worth
it? Ask her. I am firmly convinced that she would without
hesitation say yes. You see, it’s not
just putting food in a belly. There is
so much more happening there than feeding a hungry youngen. Like your salvation, there is so much more
than what meets the eye. She understood,
that its love you are putting on that table.
The home cooked meal is a bonding element that the family can gather
around. It is a constant in a world of
chaos. A medium to generate conversation
and a conduit to foster communication.
There is a whole lot more happening around that table then just five
people being fed.
Salvation
is the same way. Yes, it takes your
all. Yes, there is some input on your
part and you have to trust, have faith, give up yourself and follow Christ; but
there is more to Christianity than meets the eye. When you purchase the ox and do the necessary
to keep up the relationship with Christ, the benefits far outweigh the cost. The blessings over time are so much more than
the sorrow felt sometime. It is worth it
to serve God (world’s biggest understatement); know this, believe this, accept
this, and act on it. You will never
regret it.
