Wise Ants

Proverbs 30

Have you ever thought about ants as something besides a pest? Before I started researching facts about ants, I just thought about them as annoying insects that carried away crumbs left around your house. However, research proves that ants are much more than just annoying pests, they are also very intelligent and good at working together.

Ants are able to come together as large groups and use all of their intellect as a whole.

Ants are officially the world’s smartest insects and have 250,000 brain cells.

Ants are the only non-mammals who can learn through interaction.

Research is not the only thing that proves that ants are smart; the Bible also describes the wisdom of ants. In Proverbs 30:24, it says that there are multiple small things on the earth that are very wise. The first thing listed that is small but wise is ants. Proverbs 30:25 says that ants are wise because they spend their summer gathering food for the winter, even though they are small. While ants are wise because they gather food for the winter in preparation, they are also wise in the method by which they gather their food; teamwork. Each ant is able to gather some food by itself. It may be able to gather enough food for a month if it works alone, but it wouldn’t be able to gather enough food for the entire winter if it worked alone. But when an ant works as part of a colony, it is able to help make sure all the ants in the colony have enough food for the winter. As Christians, we should be the same way. We should be working together to help each other stand firm in God’s word, instead of trying to do God’s will by ourselves and stumbling in our faith throughout the process.

As Christians, we should be working together to help each other to better understand the Bible. Understanding the Bible gives us wisdom, which in turn helps us to stand firm in our faith. Every person reads the Bible differently and learns different things when they read it. Working together with fellow believers to study the Bible allows us to each learn the things others learned when they read the Bible that we wouldn’t have learned by ourselves. The more lessons we learn from the Bible, the sturdier foundation we are able to build our faith upon.

Not only can spending time with other Christians help you to build a stronger foundation, but it also helps you to draw closer to Jesus, allowing you to live your life more like Jesus. Matthew 18:20 says that where two or three believers gather together, Jesus will also be there in the believers’ midst. When Jesus is in the midst of a group of believers, each believer becomes stronger in their faith. This allows them to imitate Jesus better in every action of their life and to stand firm in their faith throughout hardships with less difficulty.

Throughout our lives, we will all face trials that try to shake us from our faith including people who try to challenge our faith. Many people who try to cause you to fall away from your faith come with reasons and logic that very subtly oppose the Bible. If you try to stand by yourself without surrounding yourself with fellow believers, there is a good chance you may start to fall away from your faith because you start to believe what others say. However, if you are surrounded by other Christians, they can help you find the flaws in the logic and continue to stand firm in your faith. Hebrews 10:24-25 says, “And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”  Just like ants, we need to be gathering with other fellow believers and working together, so that we can stand firm in our faith.

–Kaitlyn Hamilton

Today’s Bible reading passages can be read or listened to at BibleGateway here – 1 Chronicles 27-29 and Proverbs 30

On the Counter

Acts 4 13

Read Acts 4 (especially verses 13-22)

Grandma Wilma was the best cook. It was universally accepted by my family. She cooked everything from homemade chicken and dumplings, to the best lemon cake you have ever had. Even when she made bacon we all fought over the little bits that were leftover. It was all so delicious.

I was a curious child so I always wanted to help grandma cook. It was fascinating. I loved to see all the different ingredients for everything and it finally got to the point where I would sit on the counter next to the stove and constantly ask questions about how everything was cooked. Thus, my love for cooking began. Now I am no well-trained chef but I can cook anything because of the principles my Grandma Wilma taught me, and I am confident that I can learn more because of the time I spent with her.

In chapter 4 of Acts, we see that Peter and John are being ridiculed for healing the man in the previous chapter. They are also still speaking about the resurrection of Jesus in such a way that it is bothering the chief priests and scribes. Not only are they speaking about this they are recognizably untrained by a temple priest; however, they are recognized by having been with Jesus. (Now he was a pretty cool guy) Apparently, Jesus’ influence led Peter and John to understand certain things and have confidence in the message that Jesus had told them to speak about the kingdom and the resurrection.

After they spoke they were threatened to death if they kept talking about the resurrection, but having seen Jesus after His resurrection they knew they did not have to fear the ones who were threatening them.

Just like my Grandma was able to teach me how to cook when I sat next to her on the counter, Jesus was able to teach and show the disciples how to teach boldly, and have confidence in the message because they had been with Him. This is the definition of discipleship. They didn’t need a fancy education to understand what Jesus had done for them, or what he had started. All they needed was to be with Him.

Here is my take away, the more time you spend in Jesus’ teachings and discovering what He said, the more confident you will be in your ability to share those teachings. Some people might even recognize you as having been with Jesus.

Jesse Allen

 

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