Jesus identified the two most important commandments: "Love the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind,” and, "Love your neighbor as much as you love yourself.”
What greater motivation can there be for our daily work? Loving God and loving people. It's pretty basic.
Through some vocations, people love others directly, as in the work of a nurse. Through other vocations, people love others indirectly, as in the work of a truck driver who delivers supplies that empower the nurse to nurse.
Through his work as a botanist, chemist, professor, and entrepreneur, Dr. George Washington Carver loved God and loved people. If there ever was a person who combined Weslian-Haugian faith with a Moravian-Haugian approach to the marketplace, it was Carver.
Carver asked God to give him “orders for the day” during morning walks. And Carver continued to commune with God throughout the day, particularly in his lab at Tuskegee Institute, where he created new products from peanuts, sweet potatoes and soybeans. Not for his own glory, but for the common good and human flourishing to the glory of God.
Carver said: “God is going to reveal to us things He never revealed before if we put our hands in His. No books ever go into my laboratory. The thing I am to do and the way of doing it are revealed to me. The method is revealed to me the moment I am inspired to create something new. Without God to draw aside the curtain I would be helpless.”
Carver’s love for humanity shaped his work at Tuskegee. He came to Tuskegee in response to Booker T. Washington's invitation: "I cannot offer you money, position or fame...I offer you in their place work─hard work─the challenge of bringing people from degradation, poverty and waste to full manhood." Carver replied: "I shall be glad to cooperate with you in doing all I can through Christ who strengtheneth me to better the condition of our people."
He did just that! And in the process, he bettered the condition of a nation.
Of all the video clips Worldview Matters has produced, none has generated more hits than the following clip about Carver, nearing 10,000 views. Find out why:
If the video does not play, click here: http://youtu.be/1wv4qYIyJoM
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