[290 words]
Walter Hunt was great at making things. He just wasn’t good at doing something with what he made.
In 1834, he inventing the first sewing machine but never filed a patent on it. Someone else did and made a fortune. He didn’t make that mistake again with the first fountain pen and first repeating rifle. However, he never turned them into viable products. Others did and made amazing profits. In 1849, after a few hours playing with a piece of wire be bent it into the shape that would become the safety pin. That idea would go on to be a million-dollar one. Just not for him. He sold the patent for $100, to make some quick cash.
Such great ideas but he never capitalized on them.
James warns his readers about this kind of behavior. Those that hear the word but don’t act on it. Those that have faith but don’t have works. Those that have God’s commands but don’t do the very thing those commands say. It’s not enough to just know the right thing, we have to do the right thing with it.
“But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves” (James 1:22).
With the inventive brain, Walter Hunt was blessed with he should have been set for life. Instead, he had nothing. We could do the same thing if we never heed the wisdom that God has blessed us with. We exactly what we need to be set for eternal life. Are we taking hold of it? Are we utilizing the knowledge we have been given? Are we exchanging it for something of less value?
We know what we need do but what are we doing with it?
Barry Haynes
Hope church of Christ
Hope, AR