Week 19/2024
A word fitly spoken is like APPLES OF GOLD in a setting of silver [Proverbs 25v11]
President Kennedy was famous for his oratory and at his inauguration speech 63 years ago he implored his fellow Americans to “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”.
Sentiments which the writer of Proverbs expressed thousands of years before in chapter 6v6: “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!It has no commander, no overseer or ruler,yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest”. As we saw last week, the Bible often uses illustrations from the natural world to highlight moral and spiritual truths. Today the ant teaches us about the need to use our talents, time and strength for the good of our fellow men and women. For many of us, ants are a nuisance because they infest our homes and gardens from time to time, but in their natural outdoors habitat their selfless and industrious construction of ant hills and subterranean colonies for the good of the colony is truly inspiring to watch. There are no passengers in the ant world -unlike in the human world, and our verse instructs sluggards or lazy, sleepy and slow-moving people to take note of the ant and be wholehearted in their service for the Lord, His people and society as a whole as Ecclesiastes 9v10 says:
“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom”. The early Christians had an urgency to not only further the kingdom of God, but also a selfless desire to care for and provide for each other. There was no place for selfish laziness which is prevalent today in our hedonistic society. Friends, let us learn from the ant and grab whatever opportunities come our way and be active whether our leaders instruct us to do so or not. Let us get out of our comfort zone and be wholehearted in our service for the Lord and his people as 2 Corinthians 9v7 tells us: “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver”. Not just our money, but our time, talents and energy.
God Bless, Graeme Greenwood