A Mess in the Manger

Reading Proverbs to Eli last night, we read,

"Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean,
but from the strength of an ox comes an abundant harvest" (14:4)

Here's a choice for my family. Do we want a clean manger or an abundant harvest?

Or, in other words, do we want a comfortable, easy lifestyle, or one with Kingdom purpose? I used to think both were possible. Our home, car, clothes, etc could look like magazine-covers, and we'd have faithful children, too. In our affluent culture the wealth comes easy enough. But the comforts of wealth lead many to fail on the faithful family part. Isn't this reminiscent of the "personal peace and affluence" trap that Schaeffer described?

I'll stick with the abundant harvest. Raising godly children doesn't come easily; there's hard ground to plow and messes in the manger. We'll have to give up on the perfectly appointed dream-home, the BMW roadster, etc. But if our treasure is in Christ, we won't miss them.