Plenty of Challenge in Providing What the World Needs

Ed, my neighbor next door, is determined that it’s now time for the wise ones to head south to Arizona or Texas. Ed informed me last week that rather than waste his money going south that he is planning on becoming an entrepreneur this winter. He feels that he will have plenty of time to plan for the startup of his own business if the winter is as long as usual. My neighbor is certain that if others have turned an idea into a profitable finished product that he should give it a try.

I asked Ed if he is willing to take risks, and if he has some innovative ideas for his business that haven’t been tried before. He said that he was not disclosing any of his business secrets until he is rich and famous. I agreed with him that it was probably wise. I mentioned to Ed that Thomas Edison is reported to have said, “I find out what the world needs then I proceed to invent.”

I think that Edison was right in that the world needed the light bulb. I wished Ed, good luck, in finding and producing what we need. I’m not sure what Ed has in mind, but I did refuse to invest any capital in his business that still seems to be in the conception stage.

There are always a lot of opinions on what the world needs. Entrepreneurs want to produce products that serve people or are useful to them so that people will buy them. There are products made that promise that they are what people need, but turn out to be worthless. Ed is all for me trying out products that he might need someday. He wants me to use a hair growth procedure, the weight loss pills, the brain stimulator and the diabetes cure, even though; I do not have diabetes. According to all the advertisements I am missing out on countless things that I need, and don’t know it.

Matthew speaks of Jesus preaching that the world needs repentance. Jesus said, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.”Mark adds that Jesus preached, “The time has come. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news.”  It seems repentance was missing in Jesus’ world. The need to confess we have forgotten to honor God and our neighbor gets ignored in every age. Turning or returning to God tends to get lost in the activities of life such as; eating and drinking, marrying, buying and selling, planting and building. Repentance is about both admitting that we have failed to loved God and our neighbor fully and finding the good news that there is forgiveness for us through faith in Jesus God’s Son.

Jesus came into the world to save sinners for we are all sinners. Compared to the perfectness of God we are all sinful. Many play the game of pointing out who is more sinful than themselves, which only proves the world needs a savior from our sinfulness. What does the world need most? Is it new and inventive ways to make money, or salvation already freely given by God to believers in Christ Jesus, his Son? Repent because Jesus said to do so.

Sharing is caring!