PARABLE OF THE MOWERS

1 Corinthians 3:2-9 (NRSV)

I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready, for you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations? For when one says, "I belong to Paul," and another, "I belong to Apollos," are you not merely human? What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each. For we are God's servants, working together; you are God's field, God's building.

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Paul wrote, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth."
- 1 Corinthians 3:6 (NRSV)
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ONE day I came home and noticed a pickup truck filled with lawn mowers. I asked my son and his friends what they were up to with their individual mowing businesses. They explained that it was more fun to work together, so they were helping each other mow.

That night I asked my son how the business arrangement had worked out and how they figured the pay for each person. "What are you talking about?" he asked. I reminded him that one friend was hired to cut bigger yards and that one friend gets paid more for his work. "You don't get it, Dad. We just got paid for our own yards." After we talked for a while, I realized I really didn't get it. They didn't care. The pay would be the same whether they worked alone or together, so why not work together?

This is a parable for our churches and our lives. Sometimes we become so focused on rules and on who gets credit that we miss the point of our work for God. We can do much more if we work together. If the ministry is the same, why not work together?

There is no time so sacred nor rule so important that it should interfere with helping a person in need. When we realize how much more we can do together, we become more effective in reaching out to people.

Prayer: Creator God, help us to see what you deem important and to work together to help bring it to pass. Amen.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
With God's help, we can do much more by working together.

-- Bruce L. Blumer (South Dakota, U.S.A.)

PRAYER FOCUS: For cooperation within churches