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“An ant can’t worry about the big blueprint.”

A thought by Brant Hansen (2015-04-14) from his book, Unoffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better (p. 190). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title of the book to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

So what is it that God wants you to do? 

Brant says, “Well, the Bible actually singles out a specific, heroic animal species to illustrate how to get things done. If you want to know how to do it, don’t go to the soaring eagle. Don’t go to the impressive, roaring lion, either. God may have a different idea:

Proverbs 6: 6-8 (NCV) says, “Go watch the ants, you lazy person. Watch what they do and be wise. Ants have no commander, no leader or ruler, but they store up food in the summer and gather their supplies at harvest.”

Brant says, “The Bible singles out a species wherein every individual member does whatever needs doing, just by responding to what’s in front of it. An ant can’t worry about the big blueprint. No ant actually has the big picture. If they each do their thing, the thing right in front of them, the big picture takes care of itself.”

He then says, “I also can’t help but think that if we just responded to things God places in front of us in our lives, and entrusted the visionary role to the Lord Himself, beautiful things could happen. It doesn’t mean we don’t need leaders; of course we do. But we need humble ones, leaders who don’t need a spotlight, don’t need approval, and don’t need attention. ‘Ant’ leaders who prod us on and serve us in order to help free us to do what God puts in front of us.”

I have a Kindle and a computer in front of me.  And with that God has reached out to over 150,000 people around the world.


So what is it that is in front of you that God wants to use?

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