In 1923 the Gillette Razor Blade Company faced increasing competition from American and British companies. The Gillette board discussed adapting a costly means of improving the grinding and sharpening process of their product. Should they buy the machinery? Could they afford the investment? How long would it take to recover it? Would the new process be profitable in the long-term?
Then-Chairman John Aldred resolved the issue with words later Gillette boards would remember: knowing how to make a better blade demanded its use whatever the cost. Gillette, 140 Knowing how to do it demanded the action necessary to produce the highest quality razor blade. The very spiritual principle Jesus established in Matthew 12:39-42. Christians must apply it. If we produce at level five, for example, but have the potential of reaching level 8, God holds us accountable for the greater giftedness, whether or not we employ it in his service. Indeed, his parable of the evil spirit, 43-45, illustrated the principle. Once the spirit returned, he found his former host a house swept clean but unoccupied. In the context, it means that Jesus cast judgment on his generation for knowing his superiority but rejecting the spiritual life he brought to replace the Mosaic religious life observed for 1500 years. The principles of Opportunity and Production apply to the Christian as to the business life. They either reinforce or weaken, complement or cancel, each other. Should opportunity be seized, production (growth, increase, profit, etc.) flourishes. If opportunity is overlooked, production falls. It isn’t always true that opportunity won’t come again; it may not come as propitiously again. It’s certainly true that spiritual opportunity overlooked can lead to the diminution of whatever spiritual life has been gained, a truth individual Christians and churches cannot overlook. Should we fail to see the opportunity, God may graciously send it again when we have more knowledge. But if KNOWING we reject it, we’re like ancient Israel all over again. And that AIN’T good Matthew 23:38. Applied to daily discipleship, it means there can be no chance of substandard Christian lives when the Holy Spirit empowers us. We need only the willingness to obey his empowerment. While never completely achieved, indeed hardly achieved by us now, growth in Christ’s likeness remains possible, necessary and achievable. There should never be a decrease in our spiritual life simply because we overlook opportunities to GROW IN CHRIST! End Part I.
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