Worth it
Ponder: Serving God: Is it worth it?
Scripture: “Where no oxen are, the trough is clean; but much increase comes by the strength of an ox” (Proverbs 14:4 NKJV).
With cattle, you must clean old hay from the manger and spoiled feed from the trough. One way to avoid this unpleasant task is to have no cattle! In Bible times, though, agriculture depended upon oxen to pull the plow. Selling your oxen to avoid having to clean their trough would be rather short-sighted, don’t you think? I’d rather clean the trough than pull the plow!
Worthwhile things require investment. Parents invest to raise their children. Think of the 2 a.m. feedings’ the extra bedrooms to build, heat, and cool; healthcare costs; education costs; and the expense of taxiing them here, there, and everywhere. Why invest the time, effort, and resources? Because the results (love, joy, satisfaction) make the investment worthwhile!
Investment is necessary in the church. If Rob didn’t send out this devotional, I wouldn’t need to write an article. Why do we invest the time, effort, and resources? We think it does some good. Ditto for Bible classes. Without them, we wouldn’t have to hunt for teachers, and the teachers wouldn’t need to prepare. We would need no classrooms, nor would we pay for heating and cooling them. And we could show up an hour later than we do now. But we make the investment because the dividends are more than worth it.
God made the supreme investment by sending Jesus to live the perfect example, teach the truth, and die a sacrificial death for us. Had God been satisfied to leave us eternally lost, Jesus could have avoided poverty, pain, heartache, and death. Why did God invest His very Self? Evidently He thinks we are worth it. He loves us and desires our fellowship.
Now, do we love Him and desire His fellowship? Are we willing to invest our time, effort, and resources? Or would we prefer to sell the ox so the trough will stay clean?
Song: “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”
Prayer: Lord God, we thank You for paying the price to save us. We marvel at the way You value us, and we pray that You will help us to value You, to value each other, and to serve You by serving others. In Christ’s name, Amen.
Joe Slater (Justin, TX)