WEEKLY MESSAGE

SUN, 29/06/25 - SAT, 05/07/25

ON THE MESSAGE THIS WEEK: LESSON FROM THE ANTS

KEY VERSE: “TAKE A LESSON FROM THE ANTS... LEARN FROM THEIR WAYS AND BECOME WISE” (PROVERBS 6:6)

The Bible says: ‘Take a lesson from the ants... Learn from their ways and become wise! Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work, they labour hard all summer, gathering food for the winter’ (see vs 6-8). While the queen ant is the centre of attention and the mother of most of the ants in the colony, she’s not the chief ruler. The work and survival of the colony is insured by ‘soldier’ ants. These servant-leaders are older ants that begin each new activity in the colony by doing the work themselves. The younger ants then imitate the servant-leaders and join in the work. There are no supervisors, chiefs, or officers amongst the ants.

So when Solomon says the ants ‘have no prince, governor, or ruler to make them work’, it means the ant is a self-starter; this is a picture of the diligent person he describes in Proverbs 10:4: ‘Lazy people are soon poor; hard workers get rich’.

When you see an ant carrying a piece of bread several times larger than himself up a steep slope, it’s a study in diligence! No matter how many times he drops the bread, he goes back and picks it up, and starts climbing again until he gets it to where it’s supposed to go. What drives him? Hunger - God’s motivating force to labour. ‘It is good for workers to have an appetite; an empty stomach drives them on’ (see Proverbs 16:26). The stomach-growl of a hungry man or woman is often God’s way of teaching us the value and importance of being willing to work.

A leaf-cutting ant may carry up to fifty times its own weight more than a hundred yards. That’s the equivalent of a two-hundred-pound man carrying five tons on his back for seventeen miles! In a single summer, a large colony of ants may excavate thirty to forty thousand pounds of earth to make a nest, and carry five thousand pounds of material back into the nest for food. It can make as many as four round trips a day to food sources that may be more than four hundred feet from the nest. That’s roughly equivalent to a person walking sixty-eight miles. If the ant had the stride of a man, it would be capable of bursts of speed in excess of sixty-five miles an hour, and would walk normally at a speed of twenty miles per hour. (And you think you have it rough!)

The ant never sees work as menial or beneath his dignity. Whether it’s moving dirt or carrying breadcrumbs, he merrily goes along doing his job. How unlike that are many people today! All work can and should be done for the glory of God (see 1 Corinthians 10:31). The sum of the matter is found in this simple Bible statement: ‘In all labour there is profit.’ Teach your children the old-fashioned way of getting money - working for it! The word ‘vocation’ comes from the Latin word vocare, which means ‘to call’. So every job or vocation, regardless of what it is, is a calling from God.

One thing about an ant you can count on: he always gives his best and pulls his share of the load. Teach your kids that their reputation will never rise above their work ethic, and how people view them as workers. The success of the Walt Disney empire is based on the philosophy of its founder: ‘Whatever you do, do it so well that when people see you do it, they’ll want to come back and see you do it, and they’ll want to bring others and show them how well you do what you do.’ Teach your children to work hard, always finish the job, and always give their best. If they learn that lesson well, you won’t have to teach them much about success – it will be their constant companion.

Dr Martin Luther King Jr rightly declared, ‘Not all men are called to specialised or professional jobs; even fewer to the heights of genius in the arts and sciences; many are called to be labourers in factories, fields, and streets. But no work is insignificant.’ As a parent you are preparing your child for their work life, so prepare them well. If you don’t, they’ll have a life of grief, and create a life of grief for others. Plus, they may end up back on your doorstep!

Bosses don’t pay workers who don’t work. So before you give your child an allowance, give them some chores like making their bed, cleaning their room, helping around the house, taking out the rubbish, getting good grades in school, and doing their homework on time. Reward without responsibility is indulgence. And if you love your child you won’t do that!

The ant literally dies working. Now let’s be clear, the Bible doesn’t promote a workaholic lifestyle that endangers your health and causes you to neglect your family. Too many marriages fall apart when a couple subscribes to that philosophy, and too many children grow up resenting the fact that their parents never had time for them. That being understood, the contemporary concept of retirement can’t be found in the Bible. Yes, you may retire from a job, but you never retire from work. As long as you’re alive, there’s always work God wants you to do.

Harvard University commissioned a study of some of its graduates. One group of one hundred participants retired at age sixty-five, while those in the other group worked to age seventy-five. In the first group seven out of eight were dead by age seventy-five. In the second group, of those who continued to work – only one in eight had died by age seventy-five. Researchers consequently concluded that retiring too early can reduce longevity.

Stop and consider the three-and-a-half-year ministry of Jesus. At the end of it, He said, ‘I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.’ Has it ever occurred to you that salvation is available because Jesus proved Himself a faithful labourer who stayed on the task until the job was done?

Again, rest, relaxation, and retirement are worthy and well-deserved rewards for a life of hard work. But the truth is, as long as you’re alive God has something for you to do! And in doing it you’ll not only find joy and fulfilment, you’ll bless those around you too.

Have a blessed week in Jesus' Name, Amen.

_{(Article/ extract from ucb, wordfortoday)}

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Did you know: There are almost 20 different passages in the Bible where it is mentioned that we are God's people.

Ref: Jeremiah 32:38 / Ezekiel 14:11 / Zechariah 8:8 / 2 Corinthians 6:16 / Hebrews 8:10 / Ezekiel 11:20 / Ezekiel 37:23 / Jeremiah 7:23 / Jeremiah 31:33 / Ezekiel 37:27 / Jeremiah 31:1 / Revelation 21:3 / Exodus 6:7 / Leviticus 26:12 / Jeremiah 11:4 / Jeremiah 30:22 / Ezekiel 36:28.