Have you ever really stopped and consider the ant?

Oh, I know we all do to some degree. We see them on our kitchen counter and immediately grab something to swat at them. Or perhaps we see some on the floor and look for spray to get rid of them.

We think of them as pests and dirty and do our best to get rid of them as quickly as we can, but have you ever really considered them or took time to watch what they are doing?

Randomness

I was watching some ants the other day. Well, I will be truthful. I saw a couple ants in my house, and I tried to get rid of it. It didn’t work immediately, and I found myself wondering why. I tried some bug spray, a few organic household remedies, and even asked a few people their suggestion. Nothing seemed to work. They were in a spot close to a chair in my house, never really deviated from the area too much, but I found myself watching what they were doing.

They seemed scattered. At first there was just the one heading off in some random direction. And before long there was two, then three, then a few more. They really seemed to be very individual. I didn’t notice much except they seemed to have no pattern to their direction. One would go this way, turn a couple wavy motions and seem to end up back where he started. Another took off in a different direction, and seemed to be going in a circle somewhat.

Remember, I was trying to kill them. So I would try some spray and when that didn’t work, some vinegar was suggested from a friend. Tried that, it did get a couple of them, but before long they were back and seemed to be more of them than before. But they all seemed to be going every which way with no direction. Just random patterns on the floor made by these tiny creatures. They didn’t really seem to have a purpose.

Purpose Driven

Surely there must be some specific thing they do. It does seem like they are going in no specific direction, but they can’t really all be headed no where can they? Maybe they just didn’t find what they were looking for, so they went somewhere else.

It made me think about our walk with God. Many times we see people enter our sanctuaries, come a few times, and then  they don’t seem to come back. In our daily lives we probably appear like we have no purpose. Sure, we go to work, buy groceries at the supermarket, look for clothes in the mall, but we can seem to all be individuals with no specific purpose just going through life.

We too, regardless of our faith and foundation, if we do not find what we are looking for, will go off in some other direction. Looking for something we haven’t found yet. Just like the ant, we do have a purpose, and we will keep looking until we find it.

The Purpose

Today, I saw an ant again. I thought I had gotten rid of them the other day, but apparently not. But this ant instead of roving along in some random direction was attempting to carry a piece of something. I looked closer and it must have been a small piece of a chip or a cracker he found somewhere. I really don’t know where. The place where the ants have been is tiled floor. I do my best to keep my house clean, so where that came from I don’t know. But this ant was trying to get the crumb of food from wherever he found it to somewhere else.

It was bigger than him by at least 5 or 6 times, and so it would move slightly, and then I would see him come around to the other side and it would move a bit of a different direction.

In a space of about ten minutes, that crumb went about six inches. Now, in relation to our size, that is remarkable. I don’t think any of us could move a car by ourselves a mile. Especially, if it didn’t have wheels.

But then I saw a big change. All of a sudden the ant had company. Not just one ant anymore but about ten.

They grasped onto the crumb that the one ant was trying to move. And it began to move again. Only this time they were moving much faster and working together to make it happen.

Unity

We all know that there is strength in numbers. Yet many times, we leave the work to one or two, and the rest of us just reap the benefits. This ant was moving a morsel of food from where he found it to his home. Where all the other ants are. It wasn’t just for his use but for all of them. And no, I do not know where they are all going. It is somewhere unseen, I have looked diligently. But the point is, when the one needed help instead of the randomness of their actions usually, they came together for one common purpose.

They were unified to get that food source back to their home so that they can all partake of it. How do they communicate? I have no idea. It seems in this age of technology, if our battery goes dead on our cell phone we are completely lost. I have seen people sit side by side and text each other back and forth, instead of talking. I guess it is still communication, but ants do not have cell phones do they? Yet they find a way to communicate.

Communication

Unity is good. The ants were swiftly moving the crumb from the place I first noticed it, to where it needed to be for the best use. Ants have six legs if I remember science. Yet, sometimes it can be hard for us to get where we are supposed to be with two.

Yet, here were several ants, each with six legs, which you would think would slow them down, (three legged races are not fast, try it) but they somehow were working in complete harmony together to move a foot or two very rapidly.

There had to be some form of communication that had a purpose. They didn’t question it. They worked together to achieve a common goal.

I wonder how different our own personal lives, our churches, our cities would be if we could come together for one common purpose and work together without division?

Would we be able to get our focus together and act as one unit? Or would we still be scattered and traveling in some seemingly random direction, when we are all still seeking the same goal?

Focus

Yes, I still plan to get rid of the ants. I need to. I realize that I do not want my home filled with ants, but for the moment I left them alone. Crazy? Perhaps, considering I will find a way for them to not find them again where they are. But, they were united in a common goal, and they were using the resources they had available to them to achieve it.

I don’t know what communication looks like to an ant. Do they talk? Print pamphlets? Have mental telepathy? Not really sure, but they roam around looking for something, and when they find it, they come together with a common purpose. They have a focus.

Unlike them, many of us seem not to be focused. Just going through life. Our ministries also reflect this.  Sure, we do ‘our thing.’ But we keep going in some random direction trying to achieve the same goal without using what is available to us.

Do we get so focused on what we are doing that we don’t look for help to make the job easier? Or is it just that we don’t communicate well enough?

Tools

Yes, we have our Bibles. Some of us actually read them, and we attempt to share the word with those we meet. We come together once, or maybe a couple more times a week to focus on our purpose but the rest of the time, we seem just to be heading in random directions.

There are methods of communication available but most of us are so used to doing in the same way we always did, and even though it hasn’t worked as well as it could have, we keep going in the same random path.

We need focus. We need communication. We need tools.

We need to reach people where they are. So, where are they?

Nearly every home in the United States has at least one or two cell phones. Most of the phones have options to look  up information on the internet, or are connected through Twitter or Facebook.

Did you know that almost every home has at least one computer, and most homes have two or more? Even some of the most economically depressed areas of our communities has access to a computer at a library or school, if they don’t have a computer in their home.

Yet, only one, out of about fifty apostolic churches has a presence online. Yes, I will repeat that again. 1 in 50 apostolic churches are online.

Considering?

I am not saying you do not reach people, but you are missing a big segment of the population in your area. We head here and there, and do make some change, but we are moving slow, when we could be reaching the people where they are. And we could do it twenty-four hours a day.

Studies indicate that businesses are losing 75% of their business by not having a website online. Can you imagine that? They are only reaching 25% of their potential if they do not use a resource that really is available to all of us.

It works for ministries too. Imagine if you were reaching 75% more people than you are now?

Those who decide to take advantage of the tools available; website, Twitter, Facebook, have repeat business of 43% of those who come visit them.

Think about that in relation to your ministry.  If you reached 75% more people, and 43% became full time members of your church, how big of an impact would that have on your community? How many more people could be reached if your church was 43% bigger right now? Working together in unity, just how effective could your ministry be?

The ants achieved their purpose by working together. Individuals? Yes, but they knew how to use the resources and capabilities together to achieve a common goal. No longer just random hits here and there but accomplished task.

Consider the Ant.

If you are interested in talking to us about how having a website, social media account, or other services that will help impact your ministry we invite you to contact us. We can help you bring your resources together in one place to achieve the goals you have.

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God Bless You!