A Test in Stewardship

⁶ You lazy people, you should watch what the ants do and learn from them. ⁷ Ants have no ruler, no boss, and no leader. ⁸ But in the summer, ants gather all of their food and save it. So when winter comes, there is plenty to eat. ⁹ You lazy people, how long are you going to lie there? When will you get up? ¹⁰ You say, “I need a rest. I think I’ll take a short nap.”

Proverbs 6:6-10 ERV

How many times has a family friend or relative reached out to you with an urgent need for financial assistance but because of your financial situation you had to say no?

How many times have you wanted to give to your church but didn’t think you could afford to because your bills wouldn’t get paid?

How many times has God blessed you with a large sum of money or raise and rather than saving some for the tough times you decided to spend it all on a pair of shoes or clothes that you just had to have?

If we’re being totally honest many of us have failed in at least one of the above questions, if not all. Wikipedia defines biblical stewardship as a way time, talents, material possessions, or wealth are used or given for the service of God. That sounds simple enough but why do so many of us continue to fail the stewardship test?

Let’s look at stewardship from one of God’s smallest creatures, the ant.  Everyone has had an encounter with an ant. We probably stepped in an ant bed and caused them to go into defense mode by stinging or biting which ironically is the same thing many of us do when we think we’re being attacked.

An ant’s job can be defined in one word – survival.  Ants have a queen, but her job is to reproduce, not be the leader.  Ants have no leader, but they know they must work together as a team and each ant must know their role or the colony will ultimately die.

Ants work together, eat together, fight together, and save food for the tough times.  Many times, we as humans look at ants as pests and our goal is to get rid of them by any means necessary.  We fumigate ants, “step” on the ant, flatten ant beds, pour boiling water on the ants, etc. However, the ant normally wins because they just adapt by taking what they’ve stored up for tough times and move on to another spot in your yard or your neighbor’s yard.

Key Takeaways:

• There’s power in numbers, work together as a team so that one person doesn’t have to shoulder the load alone.
• There will always be some tough seasons, but we must plan for them by saving.
• When you plan for tough times it’s easy to pick up and move on to a better location, just like the ants.
• Being a good steward not only allows you to give to others, but it also gives you peace of mind.

Prayer:  Lord thank you for giving us one of the smallest creatures to give us an example of what it means to be a good steward.   Lord help me to make the necessary changes to be a better steward over your many blessings.

 Elder John Sanders