Where no oxen are, the trough is clean;
But much increase comes by the strength of an ox.
Proverbs 14:4

The picture here is of a barn or a holding area for oxen, cattle, livestock, etc. And if there are no livestock being kept there, of course the feeding containers and the area will be clean. It will be easy to handle. No mess. No cleanup.

But – if you want to be productive as a farmer – you need an ox. You will increase your production and your effectiveness versus trying to just do it by hand. If you want to have success, you must be willing to deal with the problems.

The same is true for ministry. Effective ministry is messy.

Ministry – service – involves getting deeply connected in the lives of others. And no one’s life is perfect. No one’s life is completely clean and free of problems.

If you serve others, you will get dirty.

And when we start to serve other people and minister to them, we find out that the trough will not stay clean. We find out that they have marriage problems. We find out that their child is having a problem in school or at home. We find out that there’s a major financial problem impacting their family. Or there is a sickness that is difficult on the whole family. Or there is gossip about them that is causing pain and anger. We find out that people are hurting emotionally, physically.

Ministry is messy.

The alternative is that we would just close the doors, stop inviting, stop doing outreach, stop serving. We have a choice to just keep everything nice and clean and calm in our lives.

But that’s not what Jesus did.

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.
Mark 10:45

Jesus came to serve – to minister – and it was messy! He got deeply involved in people’s lives. He spent hot days and long nights with His disciples, traveling from one place to another, ministering and preaching the gospel of salvation. He dealt with people who had serious problems in their life, and He had compassion on them. He wept over the city of Jerusalem! He wept when Lazarus died!

If you and I truly love people and get involved in their lives, it will affect us as well. Serving people well in the Lord requires us to have a relationship with those people. And when you have a relationship with someone, when they hurt, you hurt.

Ministry is messy. But it’s the only way to achieve the increase of changed lives.