The
Musings 13
Tuesday,
January22
Read:
Genes 12: 1-3, Exodus 3
There are number of
gadgets and products that have revolutionized human life and today we can't
think of how to survive without them. Microsoft products are an apt example in
this case. What would be our life, our work and our business if we did not have
Microsoft Office?. The various application of Microsoft like Office, Excel,
Power Point and Outlook have totally revolutionized the way we work. The credit
for making Microsoft a world class,
easily accessible and user friendly goes to its co founder Bill Gates. Bill
Gates has been a man who has been phenomenally popular because of his organization
Microsoft. But during the last decade Bill Gates began to be known not only as
the co founder of Microsoft but someone who is genuinely interested in
alleviating different issues that common people face in the world. He dropped a
bombshell last week when he made a statement in the press, and which was
reported worldwide "I have no use for money now". When people heard
this statement, their jaws dropped. No need of money?. Is this man crazy?. Here
are brothers fighting against another brother, to become richer, a family
waging war against another family to get a better share in their ancestral
inheritance, you have spouses who feel that it is better to spend more time in
work than among themselves so that their financial woes would end. In a world
where some people would do anything to get little more rich, how can Bill Gates
proclaim that he does not need any more money?. This statement surprised me
also and hence decided to get behind the facts. It is
reported that Bill Gates with an estimated wealth of $65 billion is as rich as
two Kenyas and three Trinidads. Now he is in the process of getting rid of all
his money. Why has he come to the stage of life when he wants to get rid of his
money?. With all his estimated wealth,
Gates seems to be a restless man. Even
as he worked to bring Microsoft to world class level and as he multiplied his
riches, the thought that came to him and his wife Melinda was how to give back
to the world, that gave them so much. That is how Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation was started. Over the years both Gates and Melinda have give away
more than $28 billion for various charitable projects The quest to make a
difference in the lives of the common people who suffers, discriminated and to
provide the common man with those basic necessities
in life is something that Gates envisioned.
Gates feels that he is well taken care of in terms of food and clothes. Thus
for him money has no utility value beyond a certain point and now he has
reached a stage in life where money as such has no big value in his life.. .
Today both Gates and Melinda focus in life is to help the poorest of the poor and it is this
focus that has driven him not only to give away his riches but also start his
new humanitarian project of eradicating polio. Here is Bill Gates bringing a
new perspective to so many different aspect of human life. What should be the
goal of human life, how can we wisely use our wealth, why is wealth given to
us, what is our responsibility to the less fortunate ones, how do we repay to
those who provided us all are some of the questions whose answers can be found
through the life and mission of Bill Gates and Melinda Gates. It is in
such a context that we also need to look
at the Word of God to see how the teaching of our Lord are so pertinent in
answering the above questions that Bill Gates is answering in terms of his
commitment to his humanitarian projects.
In Genesis 12 and Exodus
3, we find God's calling on two individuals. God calls Abraham and Moses in two
different circumstances. In Genesis 12: 1-3, we find the calling of Abraham. Along
with the calling of Abraham God also gives Abraham a blessing. God tells
Abraham that He is going to make him a great nation, make his name great and he
will be a blessing. But when God blesses Abraham he blesses him with a
condition. This condition is found in v: 3. According to the condition of God,
the people of the earth will be blessed by the blessing given to Abraham. Here
is God telling Abraham that the reason of God blessing Abraham is that he
should be a blessing to others. In the same way in Exodus 3, when God tells
Moses that he has heard the cry of Israelites and he wants Moses to go back to Pharaoh
and deliver his people, I believe God is telling Moses that you were very
fortunate to spend your early years in the palace of the Pharaoh, getting the
best of everything. Food, dress, knowledge and all the privileges that life could afford, while your own brothers
slogged in the sun, bearing the cruel lashes of the Egyptian task masters. Now
it the turn of Moses to repay his brothers who suffered while he enjoyed his
life. He is supposed to use all his expertise, his good will, his knowledge for
the liberation of the Israelite people. Thus through the life of Abraham and
Moses, God teaches us some valuable lessons of life in terms of how we are supposed
to use the blessing that God has blessed us with. Some of us have been blessed
with good jobs, some with sound financial
security, some with good knowledge and other educational degrees. Whatever be
the blessing that we are blessed with, I believe God has given us this blessing
not as something that we could boast about and use it for our own selfish
purpose, but to use those blessing as a channel of liberation and empowerment
of those common people whose lives could be transformed through our sharing of
those blessing that God has given to us. It is tragic that we live in a world
where majority of Christians think that the blessing that God has given to them
is meant only for their exclusive use. But let us bring corrections and changes
in our life so that each one of us could use the blessing that the Lord has
blessed us with, with the objective in life that I will repay my society, my
country or my fellow brothers and sisters so that their life is also blessed.
It is when each one of us can refocus our objective of life in this way, will
we have more and more of Bill Gates in the world. Are you another Bill Gates in
the making?
