Peony Bud Ants Rain Drops - Alexas_Fotos / Pixabay
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Part of a Colony

Peony Bud Ants Rain Drops - Alexas_Fotos / Pixabay
Alexas_Fotos / Pixabay

“For in fact the body is not one member but many.” [1.Corinthians 12:14]

Ants are the most numerous creatures on Earth. Their combined weight is greater than the combined weight of all humans on the planet, and makes up one-tenth of the world’s total animal tissue. Strong in relation to their size, ants can carry 10 to 20 times their body weight and work in teams to move extremely heavy things. If a man could run as fast for his size as an ant can, he could run the speed of a racehorse.

These little creatures have the largest brain among insects in proportion to their size. Their little mushroom-shaped brains have about 250,000 brain cells, which function similar to the gray-matter of human brains. A human brain has 10,000 million cells, so in theory a colony of 40,000 ants has collectively the same size brain as a human. How does it feel to know you are as smart as a hill of ants? Extremely social, ants also share these activities with humans:

  • Livestock farming – herding aphids like sheep and “milking” them for nectar-like food
  • Cultivation – growing and storing underground gardens for food
  • Childcare – tenderly feeding their young and providing intensive nursery care, all the while maintaining careful climate control of 77 degrees F for developing ants
  • Education – teaching younger ants the tricks of the trade
  • Civic duties – working together and organizing massive group projects
  • Military forces – raising an army of specialized soldier ants to ward off other insects, animals, and any attacking enemies
  • Earth moving – moving little mountains every day
  • Engineering – tunneling from two directions and meeting exactly midway
  • Flood control – incorporating water traps to keep out rain
  • Communications – have a complex tactile and chemical communication system
  • Career specialization – learning new careers like cleaning, foraging, caring for the young, or guarding

But as intelligent and resourceful as they are, ants cannot survive alone. They can only exist and thrive as part of a colony. Likewise, the Bible teaches that Christians will only thrive as part of a church family. It is God’s plan that we should care for one another.

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