Regular or Mulch

Back in November, during the Christmas sales, I bought a new riding lawnmower. As I approached the cashier, I asked him if it was a mulching mower. He said it was not but that I could make it one for an additional $45 dollars or so. I proceeded to checkout and the mower was delivered to my home the following week. Having plenty of leaves still to get up, I proceeded to mow the yard, over and over as the leaves were spit out the side of the lawnmower into an ever growing pile of chopped leaves and grass. When I finished, there was a significant raking to do-something I had hoped to avoid by buying the lawnmower. My daughter, who was helping me with the leaf cleanup, berated me for not spending the money to buy the mulch kit. Since she often ends up mowing the grass, I guess I should not have been too surprised when I was given a mulch kit for my birthday! After installing the mulch blade and cover, it was amazing to see how much neater the yard looked as the blade chopped up the leaves into tiny pieces-not to mention that raking was no longer required.

It struck me that it is easy for the church to be like the mulching blade. Everything is confined to the four walls of the church. What takes place in the church stays there. Ministry touches the lives of the members but does not go beyond the church boundary. God wants us to be more like the regular blade. He wants us to gather together for praise, worship, fellowship and sharing and then to scatter the OVERFLOW to those we come in contact with each week. It may not be as “neat” as we share with people who are not like minded. It may not be as “neat” as we encounter criticism or are laughed at. It may not be as “neat” as we are challenged in our faith. It may not be as “neat” as we minister to people who are different than us economically or racially. It may not be as “neat” as we encounter the “least of these”. Yet that is exactly what Jesus did. He could have spent all three years of His ministry mentoring his disciples and never exposing Himself to the lepers of this world. Yet Jesus was daily encountering the physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually challenged people of His day. Can we do anything less? God calls us from our “holy huddle” to draw a lost and dying world to Christ. So what will it be for you? Regular or mulch?

Desiring to have Jesus’ heart for the world,
Paul