Go to the Ant You Sluggard!

Sluggard? What is a sluggard? And what do ants and sluggards have to do with me?

A sluggard is one who is in the habit of being lazy. Just as you may have good habits like taking out the trash for your parents, washing the dishes after supper, or making your bed, a sluggard is a person in the habit simply of being lazy. He doesn't want to work, make good use of his time, or be productive. Rather, he lies around day after day (sleeping or watching TV) wasting away his life. We sometimes call such a person a "couch potato."

The wise man wrote in the book of Proverbs: "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" (6:6-8). Ants are determined workers. It is their nature to work—and to work hard. The summer heat does not stop the ant from storing up food for the winter. If one tears down its hill, it will build another one. If its storage of food is taken, it will acquire more.

Ants are steadfast in their work efforts. Aside from killing the ant, there likely is nothing you can do to stop it from working and preparing for the winter months (when food is scarce). What's more, they do not need a parent, a teacher, or a ruler to watch over them and constantly say, "Get to work."

Are you like the ant, which works tirelessly today that it may be prepared for future months when food is scarce? Or, do your parents and teachers have to remind you frequently to "get to work"? Some kids think that it is "cool" to be lazy and not work or study hard, but laziness is no laughing matter. Just as God condemns wicked things such as murder, adultery, and using filthy words, He also has much to say about the sin of laziness (read Matthew 25:26 and 1 Timothy 5:8).

Remember, "whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ" (Colossians 3:23-24).

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