That's Chores

I heard a story at the Arkansas Baptist Convention that made sense to me. A young man had gotten up very early, gone to the barn, fed the horses, milked the cows, put out some hay, and gathered the eggs. At breakfast he spoke about how hard he had already worked that day. His dad said "Son, what you do in the barn is chores, what you do in the field is work. You haven't worked yet because you have not made it to the field."

The modern church is very good at doing chores, not very good at work. Don't miss understand. You must do chores. Business meetings, encouraging members, church services, etc. These are important, but they are chores. We are not worthy of our calling until we get out into the field. Some churches need to do some extra chores because the barn has been neglected. The harvest is best preserved when the barns are in good repair. So fix those barns, do those chores, but then get out into the fields and do the ministry, the harvest, the work.