Go to 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. How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep—So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, And your need like an armed man.  - Proverbs 6:6-11

Work is vital. Work is proper. Work is proper. Work is godly. Work is God’s way.

Laziness can be a real issue. Some people, and I will have to include me sometimes, are prone to have a lazy streak. I am grateful is doesn’t happen all the time, but there are days when I would just rather do nothing or even do something totally useless. I hate it when I get there, but it does happen. When your ‘job’ does not require you to punch a clock or report to a supervisor it can be easy to just say, ‘ah, sure, I’ll just do that later.’

But being lazy, or as Solomon puts it, being a sluggard, is now what God wants out of us. Laziness brings us to destruction. Laziness brings poverty. Laziness bring failure.

Look at how the ant works. He has no boss. He has no supervisor.  He has no one in control and no clock to punch and no one to tell him what to do. And yet he prepares for winter and gathers in food for the stockpiles.

In case we don’t get the illustration other places in scripture tell us the same great truth. Work while it is day for the day is coming when no man can work.

We don’t know how much time we have. There is a lost world all around us. It is easy to take life for granted – but after a while you begin to see how quickly time is passing. If we are going to do anything for God we had better take the example of the ant and get busy.