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Obedience and Surrender

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From the Editor From the Editor

The World is Waiting

By Darla Knoth

Without question, Leonardo da Vinci possessed one of the world's greatest minds. His genius in the areas of art, music, botany, architecture and engineering remains unmatched. One of his most famous paintings is Mona Lisa, considered of "inestimable" value by Estelle Nadau of the Louvre, where the masterpiece hangs on display.

Da Vinci died in 1519, willing all his possessions to his favorite student, Francesco Melzi, who brought da Vinci's many notebooks and drawings back to Italy from France. What did they contain? Hundreds of thousands of pages of the artist's notes about his studies of animals and plants, hydraulics, war machines, flying machines, work machines and buildings. Da Vinci designed the first contact lenses, as well as bicycles, pulleys, furnaces, cranes, ball bearings, paddleboats, firearms and much, much more.

But do you know what Melzi did with these notebooks? He put them on a shelf where they collected dust. Many of the pages containing da Vinci's inventions were not found until hundreds of years later—and in the meantime, the world waited for someone else to come up with the same discoveries.

What about you? What gifts do you have to give to the world? Are they waiting on a shelf somewhere or are they being put to good use? The Bible tells us that God created each of us as a "masterpiece," but not as one that would sit around, collecting dust. He created us to "do the good things He planned for us long ago" (Ephesians 2:10, NLT).

Scholars have noted that if da Vinci's inventions had been immediately used, the world would certainly be much farther advanced technologically and scientifically. Think of the wasted potential!

Are you wasting the potential God has created in you? What you do with the years you are given is far more important than the length of your life. Think of da Vinci's story and don't let another minute go by without asking God how He can use you as the masterpiece He created. After all, the world is waiting.

Darla KnothDARLA KNOTH serves as Managing Editor for the national Women’s Ministries Department. She has experience in editing, publishing and overseeing the publications staff of Women’s Ministries, as well as serving as an adjunct faculty member at Evangel University.

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