13 July 2013

Lessons from Ants

We have a problem with ants in our kitchen at the moment, so they've been on my mind a lot!
Here a few lessons I've learned from them.
*If one ant finds food in my kitchen there will soon be hundreds of ants eating the food.
You need to squash any ant you see, otherwise they'll bring many more. It's easy to think, 'Oh, a few ants don't matter!' But it doesn't stay that way for long.
It's the same way with sin. One sin leads to more sin. Little sins lead to big sins. If you think, 'Oh, one lie won't hurt!' before long you'll be telling lies out of habit. Every lie you tell will make the next one easier.
You need to deal with sin straight away or it will start to control you.
Learn to notice sins and confess them straight away to God. Memorize verses that help you in that issue. Depending on what the sin is, try and avoid being tempted.  For example if wasting money is a strong temptation to you, don't go shopping 'just for fun!' Or if gossiping is your weakness, don't call people 'just for a chat!'
*Ants somehow share with others where the food is they've found.
They don't just enjoy it all for themselves.
We all share something with others, but what? Gossip? Complaints?
What about blessings? Do we share what God has done for us? Do we share what we're learning? Do we share the Gospel?
Do we share food or rubbish?
*An ant trap is made to attract ants.
My husband brought home some ant traps. A sweet smelling liquid is poured into a small well in the center and there are lots of ways for ants to crawl in and drink the poison. We put one on the bench in the evening. The next morning the little trap was black with ants. I thought, "Man, if you guys only knew that liquid is poisonous you wouldn't all be flocking to drink it." Or would they??
It made me feel sad, NOT because the ants were being poisoned, but because it reminded me of sin.
Satan likes to make sin look attractive, just like the ant traps had sweet smelling liquid. People flock into his poisonous traps. Sin often looks fun or exciting. The forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden looked nice especially when the serpent kept talking about it.
Hebrews 11:25 talks about enjoying the pleasures of sin. But it actually says 'the pleasures of sin for a season.' It's only fun for a while before it poisons and destroys you.
Satan is out to destroy you, just like we were out to get rid of the ants. But God loves you and cares about you. Will you listen to God or Satan?

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for sharing, loved your thinking. Learned good things. -Sam

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