“Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.
How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep?
A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man” Proverbs 6:6-11 (ESV).
Have you ever seen a lazy ant? Amazon is selling cute little ant chase lounges but is having a tough time selling them even at a 75% discount, but they can’t keep enough ant work boots and gloves in stock.
Let me share four more priorities God wants us to embrace when it comes to managing our money, possessions, wealth, and treasure (the first four were: worship, faith, investing, and generosity).
Priority #5 – Learning
- “Instruct the wise, and they will be even wiser. Teach the righteous, and they will learn even more” Proverbs 9:9 (NLT2). “Refuse good advice and watch your plans fail; take good counsel and watch them succeed” Proverbs 15:22 (MSG). “Choose my instruction rather than silver, and knowledge rather than pure gold. For wisdom is far more valuable than rubies. Nothing you desire can compare with it” Proverbs 8:10-11 (NLT2).
- “Go to the ant” and learn. The first thing about learning is wanting to learn, and recognizing your need for more knowledge and wisdom. Then you have to put legs to that desire and need and go to sources that can actually teach you, even if it is a humble ant.
- The ant’s first lesson is about being self-motivated and self-governed to follow what is wise, prudent, and farsighted, and these virtues guide her planning.
Priority #6 – Discipline
- “He who loves pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and oil will never be rich.” Proverbs 21:17 (NIV).
“In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has” Proverbs 21:17, 20 (NIV). “… giving all diligence, add to your faith … self-control …” 2 Peter 1:5-6 (NKJV). - What the ant knows won’t do her much good unless she acts on it, and that requires discipline, self-control, self-denial, grit, and patience. She knows that it is impossible to be wise and undisciplined at the same time, and therefore works hard when it is time to work hard. The ant is the polar opposite of being lazy because laziness always leaves you unprepared.
- Professor Ant also teaches us to save because winter is coming, and saving requires discipline. If by the end of the harvest, there is nothing in the cupboards, you are in trouble. That’s one of the problems with debt, it doesn’t store anything up, it relies on someone else’s pantry, it isn’t preparation.
Priority # 7 – Honesty, Ethics, Character
- “Wealth gained hastily or by dishonesty will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it” Proverbs 13:11 (ESV, italics mine). “Better to be poor and honest than to be dishonest and rich”“The trustworthy person will get a rich reward, but a person who wants quick riches will get into trouble” Proverbs 28:6, 20 (NLT2). “In everything I’ve done, I have demonstrated to you how necessary it is to work on behalf of the weak and not exploit them. You’ll not likely go wrong here if you keep remembering that our Master said, ‘You’re far happier giving than getting’” Acts 20:35 (MSG).
- There a different ways of earning a living, making a profit, and accumulating wealth, but not all of them qualify as making an honest and godly living. The ant earns her living through legitimate and hard work, gathering and saving little by little.
- Ants don’t operate illegitimate businesses, run a lottery, mooch of others to support their laziness, cheat, lie, do shoddy work, or fart around when they should be working.
Priority # 8 – Needs
- “God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus” Philippians 4:19 (NLT2).
“Your heavenly Father (God) knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!” Matthew 6:8 (NLT2, italic mine).
“These things (worry about the needs of life) dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need” Matthew 6:32-33 (NLT2, parenthesis mine). - Even ants know that needs and wants are not the same thing, and gather what God provides to meet their needs. We, however, seem to easily confuse them. Our needs are legitimate and we can count on God to help us with them, but with the condition that He, His kingdom, His wisdom, and His ways come first.
- Our wants could care less about God’s will, wisdom, and self-discipline, they constantly clamor to be satisfied now, have no qualms about using up what is in savings, and are more than willing to charge it. Our wanter doesn’t look down the road like the ant, nor does it want us to spend any time observing and learning from the ant.
At the end of His life, Jesus had just one thing that was of monetary value, a nice coat, the soldiers who crucified Him gambled over it. But, you be hard-pressed to asses Jesus’ life as misspent. In fact, no one ever lived a wiser or better-invested life, He managed everything in His life according to the will of God, it’s the way to go, ask an ant.
To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans
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