Proverbs 6:6-8. 6Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. 7Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, 8she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.
Are you a sluggard? A what?
A sluggard is a person who is lazy. A sluggard doesn’t like to start their work, and doesn’t like to finish their work either. Worst of all, the sluggard can’t admit that they are a sluggard.
Solomon is concerned that his children not become sluggards so he gives them an example from nature to look at – the ants. The ants don’t have to be constantly told what to do or to get back to work- without any chief, officer, or ruler. By comparison, the wise start their work without being asked and without anyone hovering over their shoulder making sure things are getting done. Guided by their wisdom and fear of the Lord, rather than a chief, the wise can rise up in a collective effort to fulfill God’s mandate for us to “work and keep” our garden.
Why does God care about how hard we work? Because work is a one of God’s most life giving gifts. As we learn in Genesis 2, God made mankind to work, to cultivate, and to serve in the Garden of Eden. Their work gave life meaning. Their work imaged God. Their work was their worship (literally work and worship are the same Hebrew word). When we work, we display the character of God. His creativity, his service, his orderliness, his care. When we work, we display our God given rule over creation. Our dominion and authority. When we work hard, we do it from a strength that is only given by God.
The New Covenant Christian is not freed from the mandate of God to work and keep our little corner of the garden of earth. In fact, knowing that one day Christ will restore this earth to its original glory makes our work all the more important as we can now see it as a picture of what’s to come – a participation with Christ in the restoration of all things.
The Christ in us is never slothful or sluggardly. He never becomes weary in doing good. And he never becomes weary in doing good in and through us. His commitment to our growth and transformation never takes a break. He is never satisfied with where we are. Enough is never enough when it comes to our spiritual growth. Jesus won’t rest until we are completely like him.
We too can resist laziness by faith in our union with Christ. When we do our work as unto the Lord and not unto man, we can find peace and pleasure in any hard work, knowing that hard work is a tool in our sanctification when it is done with integrity and honesty to the glory of God.
Most importantly, we can do the work of the church. Like the ant, we can work together as one team, an organic working body where each member does its part to cause the growth of the whole. How? By rejecting any form of selfish ambition for the good of the body of Christ, that is, for the good of Christ himself whom we love and who loves us from his finished justifying work for us on the cross.
You: Would you say that you are a sluggard or an ant?
You in Christ: Think about – our work doesn’t earn God’s love, but his love should make us desire to work hard for him and for others.
Christ in you: How can Christ’s loving authority in your life motivate your hard work, even when the job is less than desirable?
Pray: Father, I don’t want to be a sluggard. Help me to be like the ants instead finding my place within the work of Christ and his church. Amen.
To Live is Christ 