Monday, July 7, 2008

Lessons from the Ant

The sermon topic for yesterday's message was, "Creating A Dynamic Spiritual Life." Proverbs 6: 6 - 8 teaches us to learn from the diligence and discpline of the ant:

Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, Which, having no captain, Overseer or ruler, Provides her supplies in the summer, And gathers her food in the harvest.

While the queen ant is the center of the ant colony, and the matriarch of most of the worker ants, she is not the chief ruler. Instead, work is initiated by servant-leaders who lead by example. The servant-leaders are older ants who start each new activity in the colony by doing work themselves. The younger ants imitate the servant-leaders and join in the labor. There are no supervisors, chiefs, officers or overseers among the ants.

What a great lesson we learn from a small, simple creature who illustrates the creative principles of God, that is, He has made His people to be "fellow-laborers" together in the harvest of His kingdom. Every member of the body of Christ is essential and important to the work of God. When each one puts their skills and abilities into action, the entire church is edified and expanded. There should be no need for captains, rulers or overseers in God's church. Every member should follow the leading and direction of the Holy Spirit in conviction, direction and transformation. Supervisors will not always lead you in the right direction, but the Holy Spirit will never lead you down a wrong path. When everyone binds together the greatest of tasks are easily accomplished.

Although by human standards the ant is weak, compared to its own weight the ant is stronger than any man. Ants can carry up to 50 times its own weight over hundred yards.. That is equivalent to a 200-pound man carrying five tons on his back for a distance of seventeen miles.

The ant teaches us that what may seem impossible and improbable to man, is but a small thing to God.

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