I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind – just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you – so that you are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the partnership of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
1 Corinthians 1:4-9
STORY
A near-death experience set the career path for Thomas Alva Edison.
The Grand Trunk Railroad had a line that ran through Port Huron, Edison’s home city, to Detroit some hundred miles away. At the age of 12, the young lad began as a newsboy, selling papers as the train travelled between the cities, making a number of stops along the way. Over the years Al, as he was known, became a familiar face.
Thanks to his frequent trips along the Grand Trunk, Edison became friendly with James Mackenzie, the station master and telegraph officer at Mount Clemens. In August 1862, when Edison was 15, he was standing outside the Mount Clemens station, watching freight cars being transferred to a side track. When one of the cars approached the station at high speed, Thomas noticed Mackenzie’s two-year-old son, Jimmie, playing on the tracks in the train’s path. He jumped into action, grabbed Jimmie and moved him out of harm’s way. The pair received just minor wounds.
A deeply grateful Mackenzie wanted to thank Edison for saving his son’s life. The next day, he offered to teach Edison the Morse telegraphic system. Despite already having his job on the railroad, Edison immediately accepted, spending all of his free time with Mackenzie and practicing at home whenever he could.
Within months Edison had become proficient in the difficult Morse system. Despite his youth, he began working full-time as a telegraph operator. For many ambitious young men of the era, it was a career path that offered the opportunity for travel and advancement, which was the blessing bestowed upon this young man.
With career advancements, Edison began working for Western Union Telegraph Company, travelling from city to city throughout much of the Midwest for the next six years. He spent all of his downtime working on his experiments, which had now become focused on electricity.
It was the skills he learned, from the thanks he received for his valor, that brought Edison his first financial success. In 1874, he developed an advanced “quadruplex” system that allowed four separate signals, two in each direction, to be sent along a single telegraph line. Western Union, Edison’s former employer, purchased the rights to the invention for $10,000 (more than $215,000 in today’s money). Edison used the funds to build his laboratory at Menlo Park, New Jersey, where his inventions led him to be known as the “Wizard of Menlo Park.”
DEVOTION
We all have a very special gift to offer society.
The church in Corinth was a congregation engulfed in disputes, disarray, and disharmony. A central problem evolved because parishioners were using their spiritual gifts for self-edification rather than the empowerment of the church. This disunity would cease, and collegiality restored, if parishioners refocused themselves on the spiritual gifts that each was blest with, and utilized those gifts for the advancement of the Kingdom.
This is why Paul could open his letter with these words, “I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way – with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge – God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. Therefore, you do not lack any spiritual gift…” Paul is saying that within that dysfunctional community, the Holy Spirit is present. Paul is saying that within that dysfunctional community, every Christina possess a spiritual gift that can edify the community. With these gifts the church community should be working in tandem as one body, and avoid being recognized as a dysfunctional community that is defined by its disputes.
Paul, in his letters to various congregations, continually expressed his desire for believers to continue to grow in their faith and display harmony and unity among themselves. For this reason, Paul would often list the spiritual gifts that would enable the congregations to move forward. These spiritual gifts would empower a Christian to live a life of the spirit, and not one of the flesh.
Later in his letter to the church at Corinth, Paul provided a list of spiritual gifts: administration, apostle, discernment, faith, healing, knowledge, miracles, prophecy, teaching, speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, and wisdom. Though, what is important for us, sitting in 21st century pews, is Paul’s introduction, “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.”
Because of Paul’s introductory statement, I personally understand that spiritual gifts are not limited to speaking in tongues, healing, or being able to perform miracles. I have six academic degrees and personal library, that I built behind my home that contains over 15,000 volumes. I have always considered my spiritual gift to be the sedate enterprise of devotional writing, as I spend my day reading, researching, and writing (my 3Rs). As I have Aspersers, which resides on the upper end of the autism spectrum, employing my 3Rs is compatible to my autistic life-style.
I am sure – actually I know – that you have a special spiritual gift.
We often hear someone say, “I have been gifted.” The Free Dictionary.com defines “gifted” as being “endowed with great natural ability, intelligence, or talent: a gifted child; a gifted pianist.” People often admire me for my education and the title “Doctor” that appears before my name, and perhaps, I self-righteously promote it, though, academia is as far as my gift goes. Beyond changing a light bulb, I am a hopeless case at home repair; my knowledge of an automobile is so limited to the gasoline pump; and please, don’t even ask, for me to understand the rules of professional athletic events.
With my degrees I reside in the ivory tower of academia, but when I take the time to look up from one of my books, and walk over to the window, I see truly gifted men and women whose gifts, who skills, far exceed my own. I see people doing things that I could never even imagine doing; such as, repairing an automobile, laying bricks, painting a house, fixing an electric transformer, cooking, stitching a wound. The list of those gifted talented people, who are able to do that which I could never do, is endless.
Acknowledge your gift. Use your gift for the benefit of others. God has “gifted” you. People may not long remember your name. They may never know your name. But your gift to them will last forever.
In the 1970s the cost of groceries was soaring upwards. Grocery stores are labor-intensive. It means stocking the shelves, placing price tags on all the items, and the time it takes for a cashier, by typing, to enter every item being purchased into a cash register, which is time consuming, and therefor costly.
George Lauer, a name I am sure none of you recognize, was concerned about the rising cost of groceries. As an electrical engineer for IBM, working at North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park, he set out to find a solution. He eventually developed what is known as the Universal Product Code, which, after years of research, was finally developed in 1972. We know it better as the tag or label on a product that has a black bar configurated in black lines with a 12-digit number printed below it. The bar code allows the cahier to simply scan the item being purchased. It allows a merchant to keep accurate inventory. The bar code is faster and it allows for fewer errors. On the 25th anniversary of his invention, Laurer said, “When I watch these clerks zipping the stuff across the scanners and I keep thinking to myself…It can’t work that well.”
We may ask who is George Laurer? And who would know? But we have been forever blest by this unknown man and his gift to the public.
We have all been gifted. Let us use these gifts to the glory God and for the benefit others.