Creative people have always fascinated me. I genuinely appreciate their imagination, ingenuity and originality. Even more than that, I appreciate those that can bring their ideas to fruition.
A while back, I read about a fellow named Murray Spangler. As a department store janitor, he had become somewhat bored with his job. One night he chose to spend some time on a recurring problem in an attempt to resolve it. As a janitor, one of his duties was sweeping for hours on end. He had developed an allergic reaction to dust and had suffered from this for quite some time.
That night as he worked on a number of ideas, he had an epiphany. Rather than pushing dirt and dust around to dispose of it, maybe he could build a machine that would simply suck it up and into a bag. Within a few days, he had built a crude machine that actually worked. He then met with an old friend who agreed to back the project financially. Before long the two men were taking orders and manufacturing Hoovers by the hundreds. They were named after H. W. Hoover, Murray’s partner and benefactor.
It would have been easy for Mr. Spangler to swell up with pride for coming up with this world changing innovation. In fact, we do not know for sure that he didn’t. He would have been justified in doing that if he had no belief in God. So many today seem to take all of the credit for all sorts of ideas they conjure up. But is that credit justified, or should they be praising our Creator for their inspiration?
Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
1 Corinthians 10:31
For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 6:20
You see, if we have accepted the free gift of eternal life made available to us through our Lord’s sacrifice on the cross, we are eternally indebted. We either accept this and faithfully serve him, or we choose to live in rebellion chasing our obsessions that vanish into mid air.
Murray Spangler worked his entire life without ever reaching his goal of retiring as a wealthy man to Florida. However, at 66 he and his wife planned their first vacation ever. On January 22, 1915, the night before he was to leave for their vacation in Florida and without warning, he would die.
The lives we are living should always match the price that was paid to redeem us. Anything less, disparages our blessed Redeemer.