Opus 2012-22, Spiritual Gifts: Geek

I know that your Bible does not list the spiritual gift of geek.  This is one of the places in which paraphrase could come in handy.  What it does list is the gift of “craftsmanship” (NASB) or “workmanship” (KJV).  This is found in the Old Testament.  It is one of the earliest spiritual gifts listed.  Consider the following:

(Exodus 35:31 KJV)  And he hath filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship;

We have the ingredients of the New Testament.  We have the Holy Spirit filling people with some things we have seen already, wisdom and knowledge.  If you look a little further down you see teaching added to the list.

(Exodus 35:34 KJV)  And he hath put in his heart that he may teach, both he, and Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan.

So I think we are talking about spiritual gifts.  Here we add understanding and craftsmanship.

Think about how this would apply itself down through history.  You have the person with the green thumb helping the person with bad soil.  You have a skilled mason helping build a house.  You develop a labor saving device.  You help a single mother get her car running or fix her broken toilet.  To this I add the gift of geek.

Let’s face it, many of us are technologically challenge.  We can’t even get messages off our cell phones.  Texting might as well be in Greek, unless we live in Greece, then it might as well be in Turkish. 

And so we have the person who has the gift of designing, applying and using the tools that make our everyday existence better.  Today much of that is in technology.

(Exodus 35:35 KJV)  Them hath he filled with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of work, of the engraver, and of the cunning workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, and in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of them that do any work, and of those that devise cunning work.

This person could held the church reach out through the world through web design or management programs.  They can help the church in outreach.  They can be of assistance to the tech challenged in the congregation.  They can be a witness to those who live in the cyber world. 

We have materials that did not exist in the days of Moses.  We have machines and concepts that would have been beyond their wildest dreams.  In the midst of that we have people who still need to be edified and a church that needs to minister.

If geek is your gift, use it.  Blessings.

homo unius libri