As Industrious as Ants - Martin Wiles

Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise! Proverbs 6:6 NLT

Although only a block away, my son refused to walk to it.

The year my son began high school, we moved to a rented home just across the street from the school. All he had to do was walk out the front door, cross the road, and immediately be on the school grounds. I thought, This will be convenient. I didn’t know my son as well as I thought.

He’s a hard worker now but wasn’t the most industrious person then. He didn’t care to walk. “I’d rather ride the bus,” he said. And he did.

Instead of walking a block, he boarded the bus at six a.m. Neither did he care to walk home. He rode the bus again and did not get home until five p.m. In my mind, this was the epitome of laziness. Why would one want to be gone from the house for eleven hours when it only had to be seven? Had he walked home, he could have had his homework completed earlier. And had he walked to school, he could have slept for another hour. Perhaps he was trying to make some unknown teenage point to me.

I’ve never observed a lazy ant. I wouldn’t have to spend untold dollars on ant poison if they were. Ants are continually working, gathering food, and building mounds.

My parents weren’t lazy and forbade me to be. From an early age, they assigned me chores. As a result, I became an industrious adult and passed along the same lessons to my two children—although it took a little longer to stick in at least one of them.

As my son fondly says, “Dad, I tried so hard not to be like you, but it happened anyway.” I just smile.

But God’s work has no room for laziness. Jesus says the harvest is plentiful. Millions need to hear about Jesus and see his love demonstrated through acts of service. God has given us the task and ability to change the world—actually, turning it upside down by permeating it with God’s kind of love. Time is slipping away, the needs are urgent, and laziness won’t accomplish the task. Don’t take the bus if God’s work for you is just across the road. Walk the block.

What are some ways you can be as industrious as ants?

Father, give me the desire to be eager to do your Kingdom’s work. 

Tweetable: Are you as busy as an ant? 

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