LUKE NINAN – 12th November 2017
Passage for meditation is Proverbs 6:6 which says “Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.”
Here in this passage God asks us to consider the ways of the ant. To consider her ways, first we need to learn few things about the ant which are as follows;
1. Ants are excellent architects because they build cities which has wonderful Ventilation system ad superb waste management. They also build Highways
2. Ants are farmers because they cultivate and process their own food. They also collect leaves and store in specific chambers in the cities built by them.
3. They do Cattle rearing (Livestock) since they raise amphids which are small lice and then feed them for food
4. Ants are good soldiers/warriors as they organize, plan wars to capture food and territories. They work as a team, capture slaves from wars and use them in colonies for their daily work.
5. Ants are hard workers and they carry about 50 times weight of their body
6. Ants are good teachers as they teach the juniors to hunt for food and make sure that they constantly communicate.
From all the above qualities of the Ants, what can we as human being learn from them.
1. Plan: Do we have a plan like the ants? Everything in our life requires a meticulous planning. As the old famous saying goes; “If we are failing to plan, we are planning to fail.” Let us hence consider the ways of the ants and be good planners.
2. Unity: The ants are never worried about who is reaching in the top, but their greatest concern is about how they can work together. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. (John 15:13). Let us leave behind all our spirits of competition and learn to work together in unity.
3. Participation: They take responsibilities on their own. Nobody instructs them to do anything, they take it up on their own and make sure they finish it at any cost. As written in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10 “we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”, we are all called to take up our own responsibilities to fulfil the good world which God has prepared for each one of us.
4. Partnership and team work – The ants work as a team and focus on finishing their tasks faithfully. They don’t fight for the top positions but work in partnership with each other. According to Romans chapter 12 verse 5-6 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. God calls each one of us to work according to our gifting and build Kingdom together.
5. Sharing/Caring: The ants share their food, facilities and even look after the young ones. We too are called to share and care for one another according to Romans 15:2 which says, “Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification.” and Hebrews 10:24-25 which says “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
6. Perseverance: Ants never quit. There are people like Jonah who quit and run away on the face of a responsibility and there are also people like Daniel who never quit in spite of all the tough circumstances.
We as a church can also learn the efficient functioning of the church and leaders by considering the way of the Ants. There are different types of ants which have different responsibilities which can be compared with different offices of the church which are as follows;
– Queen, who oversees the ant community. Similarly, in our churches too we need an Overseer Pastor who can cast the vision and encourage the church to run with it and work together to fulfil it.
– Drones, who take care of the ants in the colony. This responsibility is taken care of by the Pastors/Shepherds of the church who make sure that all the needs of the people in the church are met.
– Soldiers, who fight against all the enemies and protect the colony form getting destroyed. Similarly we have the Prayer Warriors who fight against all the spiritual enemies and bring them all into the fold of God.
– Workers, who makes sure that all the logistics are met for the preparation and distribution of food Similarly we have the Ministry teams in our churches to make sure that all the physical arrangements and other logistics are taken care of for the worship.
Our God wants each one of us love people unconditionally, let our lives reflect Kingdom values to build up the people.
