Christians, Creators and Innovators

The world is in the quest to discover a vaccine for the Corona Virus Pandemic. This got me thinking about what kinds of innovations or inventions that committed Christians have produced over the years. My conviction is that since we have the Spirit of God living inside of us, He can reveal creative and novel discoveries that can change lives.

Proverbs 18:15 says in the New Living Translation that “Intelligent people are always open to new ideas. In fact, they look for them.” This verse mandates that believers should always be looking for new ways to do things.

Matthew 11:27 tells us that no one really knows the Father (God) except the Son (Jesus) and anyone to whom He chooses to reveal God. This means a constant prayer that we Christians should be praying is “God reveal things to me.” This revelation is something that we wouldn’t know naturally. Yes we need to study and have reason, but as my former pastor used to say, “We need to move on revelation and not just reason alone.”

When you combine these two verses you see God’s pattern and plan. He wants His children to be innovators and discoverers; to be on the leading edge. God wants us to create new inventions, new processes that will change society for the better and bring Him glory.

Throughout history, God has used committed Christians to invent many things. Here are a few examples.

· Sir Isaac Newton who lived from 1643 to 1727 discovered the law of gravity and invented calculus. He built the first ever reflecting telescope and showed sunlight is made of all colors of the rainbow.

· George Washing Carver who lived from 1864 to 1943 was an evangelist whose faith inspired his scientific work. He improved agriculture by promoting nitrogen providing peanuts as an alternative crop to cotton. The secrets he learned about peanuts led to hundreds of discoveries including peanut butter, paint, marble plywood, and even the dye used in Crayola Crayons. Carver always attributed his ability to the Lord showing him insights.

· Gary Starkweater, probably a name most of you have never heard, invented the laser printer. Starkweater always told believers to think biblically about their work and he is quoted as saying, “I believe that to a great extent, the creativity we possess is because the Creator put it there. God put things in us as tool developers and creative individuals and I think it has to please Him when He sees us use those faculties to make something completely new.”

To read more about committed Christians who discovered and invented things, go to www.famousscientists.org.

In many recent years it appears that most new ideas or inventions have come from non-believers to the Christian faith. While any new discovery that helps humankind is always welcomed, I have been concerned that we people of faith haven’t led the way like in bygone eras.

I am not sure why that is. Theories abound that Christians might see science and technology as hostile to our faith. We believers might not see the value in innovation because it is not “spiritual”. It is also possible that Christians today aren’t seeking God about innovative change the way many believers did over the centuries past.

Think about the possibilities if Christians who have a passion for science, technology, law, or the environment became cutting edge in their ideas. Our God is a creative God; after all He created the entire universe. Why wouldn’t he want to give his children insights into realms that have yet to be discovered? Paraphrasing the original Star Trek series, we should boldly go where no man has gone before.

So yes, we should defend the fundamentals of the faith and understand that the Word of God is timeless and doesn’t need to be added to or subtracted from. But Jesus exhorted us to be open to the new in Luke 5:37-38: “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. The new wine would burst the old skins, spilling the wine and ruing the skins. New wine must be put in new wineskins.”

This means when God reveals something new, whether it is a new invention, or a creative way to share the love of Jesus, Christians should jump at the chance to make it happen. Wouldn’t it be great if people of faith became known as innovators to make the world a better place? How is that for a witness!