Where there are no oxen the manger in clean,
but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.
Proverbs 14:4
If you want a nice, clean, picturesque manger or barn, get rid of the stinky animals. Stinky animals poop everywhere and stink up the place. They make messes. They make funny noises, sometimes in the middle of the night.
They also produce, because they plow the ground and help produce crops. Some animals produce milk, while others produce eggs, while others produce wool. Farm animals are producers. My cats and dogs never produced a thing in their lives, but I’ll actually get something from cows, chickens, sheep, etc.
Now what does this mean for me? Maybe it’s that appearances aren’t everything.
I don’t have a manger, but ‘ve got some pretty cool looking computers. One of them looks really cool. Can I produce anything on it? Can I make income-producing web sites or graphics on it? No, because it’s video card fizzled out and I have to wait until I can afford to fix it.
Now the point of the proverb is not about smelly animals. I think the point is that a manger used less is useless. Might as well sell it off or tear it down, since it’s not serving it’s purpose. Maybe someone else can use that manger.
We’ve all got things in our lives that might be sitting unused. Sometimes they’re broken, like my computer. Sometimes they’re just sitting in the garage collecting dust. Sometimes they’re a talent or two that we’ve forgotten about over the years.
- Take a look at your surroundings at home. Can you find something you have that isn’t being used? Why are you hanging on to it?
- Have you forgotten about a talent or gift over the years? Why did you stop using it?
- Is there something in your stewardship that you could manage better from this day forward? Maybe it could be your backyard, or your computer equipment, or spending plan.