ANT OR SLUG?

“Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise.” Proverbs 6:6

I have always loved this verse. I think it is a great one to quote your teenage children when they prefer to stay in an air-conditioned house playing or reading when there is yard-work to be done. Hey, it is a great verse to quote to myself when I feel unmotivated to do that yard-work. However, it is probably not a good one to quote your spouse to stir them toward yard-work or house-work!

The verse is addressed to a sluggard, which is a word to describe a habitually lazy person. Webster’s dictionary would offer as synonyms words like deadbeat, idler, loafer, slouch, lazybones, couch potato, or slug. You get the picture don’t you?

Now that last synonym is interesting because most often a slug refers to long worm-like creature closely related to a snail, without the evident shell. Slugs are technically gastropods and are found in most parts of the world where there is a reasonable supply of moisture. They are certainly slow-moving creatures.

Now I am not entirely sure which term developed first, the sluggard or the slug, but you can see how the terms are closely related. My hunch is the term sluggard was developed after the word slug in order to refer to humans who were slow-moving. These were people who seemed to move nowhere and do nothing. Obviously, it was not a kind comparison.

In contrast to the sluggard, or slug, we find Proverbs 6 offer up the ant as an example of hard-working industriousness. Now some would likely consider the comparison of a human to an ant to also be insulting. After all, ants are so small, they serve as food for other insects, and their lives seem meaningless as they are so easily trampled underfoot.

However, through Proverbs 6:6-11 God wisely reminds us of the great example of hard work ants really are. The verses tell of how the ant plans ahead by storing up food. Ants are also notable for their strength, with an individual ant carrying from up to 5 to 25 times its bodyweight depending on the species. Of course, there are many other amazing attributes ants have that are worth imitating, such as their cooperative efforts. These ways of the ant are worthy of consideration for sluggards and all of us. It is even suggested to the sluggard that wisdom could be the result of considering the hard-working ways of the ant. So in the end it seems that being compared to an ant may not be so bad after all. It certainly would beat being called a slug or a sluggard.

This coming Wednesday, July 20, you can come to First Baptist at 6:00 p.m. and hear some of our high school students share about the mission trip they recently went on to Pawley’s Island, South Carolina. The one thing I have heard the adults who went on that trip say was how hard our students worked. They will share with you on Wednesday all the physical labor they did, how they led a Vacation Bible School there for 40-some children they loved on, and how they cooked all their own meals. Pastor Matt, Pastor Charles, and Cindy Polston have raved on how this was the most unified, well-behaved, loving, and hard-working team of students they have ever seen. Cindy said they even worked through their break times to get projects done, pausing only to get some fluids in them. Clearly, this team was made up of ants, not slugs!

So come on out this Wednesday as some of them and a couple who went to Brazil all share about what God in their lives as they served the Lord with all their might. I think you will be encouraged to hear of the faith and character of these students. Perhaps as we consider their ways all present will be inspired to work like ants for the kingdom of God!

Working toward wisdom!

Pastor Scott