Daily Devotional

When our daughter Gracie was about five years old, she became fascinated with ants. Being a supportive and inquisitive-minded father, I bought an Ant Farm online and had it shipped to our house.  I assembled the clear plastic habitat, poured in the white sand, and dumped in a tube of 25 red harvester ants.  Then we waited, watched, and tried to be patient. Within a few days the ants had created a vast network of rooms, tunnels and passageways in the sand that transformed the whole environment and delighted us with amazement.

It may surprise you that the Book of Proverbs has a lot to say about ants.  But I’d like to share two main lessons from these marvelous insects.

One – ants are successful because of their diligence. They don’t need a leader to give them orders, and yet they get right to work.  If a project needs to get done, they don’t procrastinate.  They don’t make excuses.  And they never give up until the task is complete.  In that respect, they are the antithesis of laziness, and they are role models for us.

Often, laziness can hinder us from accomplishing the things that God wants to do in our lives.  So answer these questions and do a little self-assessment.  I call this the Sluggard Test:

• Do you avoid doing work because it’s hard?
• Do you put off until tomorrow the things you should be doing today?
• Do you spend too much time on useless activities?
• Do you frequently sleep in or wake up late?
• Are you easily discouraged by challenges?
• Are you prone to quit?
• Do you have a number of unfinished projects waiting for you to complete?
• Do you tend to make excuses for not doing things that are important?

Two – ants are successful because they work together.  Even though ants are small, they’re actually quite strong (they can lift up to 50 times their own body weight.)  But a single ant can’t accomplish much.  Ants don’t have their own personal, private agendas, because they’re designed to function in community.  For example, did you know that ants have two stomachs built into their anatomy?  One is for feeding themselves.  The second is for feeding other ants in their colony.

When Gracie and I built our Ant Farm, I noticed that several of the ants died, and the other ants dug a new side tunnel – which became their graveyard. They actually moved the dead bodies over to the tunnel and closed them in.  It was inspiring to watch the ants communicate and cooperate.  They worked together as a single unit to complete their mission, and what they accomplished was incredible.

How about you?  Would you say that you’re a team-player or a one-man show?

As the Book of Proverbs reveals, we can learn a lot from ants.  So, let’s strive to be diligent and work together as a team in the body of Christ.  If we do that, we can become as wise as an ant!

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.