Of Gifts and Talents

Lunminthang Haokip *

The Aadhaar Phenomenon: Aadhaar has become a household name today. The UIDAI – Unique Identification Authority of India, a GoI agency, had worked hard to enroll and issue 1.11 billion Aadhaar numbers, about 91% of Indian population (2015), to its citizens thus far. The gigantic enrolment mission assigns 12-digit unique identification number (UID) to all enrolled residents of India. The particulars collected nation-wide are stored into a central data-base.

UIDAI is in charge to implement UID scheme, manage, update define usage and interlink the same with partner databases in delivery of various services. Many countries had put in place this type of national identity identification system. Europe went one step ahead. In countries falling under European Union, a national identity card, that complies to certain standards, can, in most cases, be used by European citizens as travel document, in lieu of a passport.

The Gift of God: By and large, Aadhaar enrolment is based on biometric identifiers like face recognition, fingerprint and iris scan. A photograph, the prints of ten fingers and "mathematical pattern-recognition techniques on video images of one or both iris of a person's eyes" are the prerequisites in biometric capturing. Unique identification presupposes that the fingerprints of two individuals are never identical.

The same goes for the iris of human eyes. In the hectic preparedness to meet targets in massive on-field exercise, biometric activity and Aadhaar linking, no one seems to have an inkling of the role of the supreme wisdom of "God who made men (including fingerprints) in His own image (Genesis 1:26)," and that He had our future requirements in mind. Besides, He gifted the 'know-how,' the techniques and the 'temper to discover' new things to convenience mankind to live faster, saner and better lives. The irony of the story is that while Jehovah caused things to happen to draw people closer to Himself, the mad rush to enjoy the products of hi-tech had, instead, driven us farther away from His fold.

The Sagacious Provider: Imagine the situation if there were myriad identical fingerprints and iris of eyes! There would have been no uniqueness of identity. Similar thumb impressions could have posed a problem in impressions on non-judicial stamp papers etc. The Creator of man might have calculated all the basic future needs of civil life at the time of creation. We ought to deeply ponder over, thank the Almighty for his wonderful foresight and acknowledge the fact that researches, inventions and advancement of technology are possible with thanks to the "meticulous Provider" of all things.

The seasons come at the dot of time. No voices of two persons are exactly the same. How a child is conceived, grows, and receives the faculty to think and discern? Grains come and multiply out of nothing. Fruits and vegetables have different tastes to suit diversified eccentric preferences. Add to that the masala of the palatably mouth-watering sweet smell of spicy 'maroi' plants. On top of all, let's think about the excellent gifts of talent in an achiever that varies and carries the gifted to dizzy heights of name and fame. Where could all these have come from? "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning (James 1:17)."

The Fall of Man: The enemy no. 1 for man is the Adam-inherited evil within himself. Whether he appreciates it or not, he has been born as a fallen human being bearing the roots of the original sin. God warned the first parents not to eat the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. Eve got ultra-curious to know why. The serpent sensed the lurking will to disobey in her and fished in troubled mental waters. God made things clear for Adam and Eve to take serious note of the disastrous consequences of disobedience in Genesis 3:3, "But the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die."

The serpent painted an irresistible alluring aura over the 'fruit' and angled for men's fall with the hook and bait of the knowledge of 'good and evil' (Genesis 3:5). The gullible woman played ball to the fall-trap. Her spirit became dead instantly, and in the bargain to pursue lies, she got her eyes wide opened to crude form of good and evil. But the good she knew she could not do; and the evil she abhorred, she could not spew out. So did the successive generations of Eve-mothered sin-ravaged evil-soaked humankind.

The Advent of The Second Adam: The Old Testament began with a series of curses in Genesis Chapter 3 and 4 (Cain) and closed with the word 'curse,' in Malachi 4:6: "...lest I come and smite the earth with a curse". In between, Commandments were given, divine power was showcased at critical junctures of history, Glory of God was shown and proclaimed in Proverbs and Psalms. Successive Prophets chosen by the Ruler played their respective roles effectively well as planned out from heaven to be messengers of the Almighty to the His earthly subjects and vice versa. But on matters of redemption, resurrection and salvation God so lovingly prepared for men, the grand desire of Jehovah had not been accomplished with earth-shaking impact.

Born to Save: "And she shall bring forth a Son and Thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21)." The Son of God Himself was 'commissioned' to be born in flesh and blood to restore the 'ideal ground of peace with God' that the first Adam forfeited in Eden garden. The second Adam's sojourn in our planet heralded the New Testament that opened with resounding blessing (Matthew Ch. 5) and climaxed with a bang of a series of blessings (Revelation Ch 21). Any person who approached the Lord with a penitent heart during His earthly Ministry received a cup of deliverance that overflowed with blessing. His sole Mission was to reveal and live the mind, the love and the will of the Father who sent Him. He came, He proclaimed the Gospel, but He was, alas, blamed and finally shamed on the cross. "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him: and with His stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:5)."

The Captivity Within: In the parable narrated in Matt 25:14-30, "a man travelling to a far country" entrusted his three servants to take care of his goods and gave them talents at the ratio of 5:2:1. The ones who got five and two talents traded fair and doubled the capital to get a pat on the back from their master. But the cynical third servant hid his Lord's money, and later, when questioned, had the audacity to argue with 'insulting' reasons bordering on faulting his master.

No wonder, the tricky servant was 'blacklisted' with the penal sobriquet of "wicked and slothful servant (Matt 25:26)." God throws open a level playing field for all to trade with the 'core competence' gifted to each of us to bring glory to His name. Many are taken captive by the forces of darkness through negative habits to render one's talent to remain latent forever. Elvis Presley was endowed with a voice none else was gifted in his time. But the captivity of Rock 'n' Roll restrained him to only 5 Gospel albums to his credit in praise of the Giver of his voice in contrast to the 100 odd other pop/rock discs of his that thrilled the vanity in him. Frustration ended his life at 42.

Captivity Made Captive: He had the power to summon and command over the heavenly Army of Angels to rescue Him. But Jesus willingly bore the pain and agony of crucifixion on the cross so that we, sinners, may be saved from eternal hellfire. In His ascension to the world beyond, He not only made our captivity captive, but also left behind gifts up for grabs for all who believe and accept Him. "Wherefore He saith, When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men (Ephesus 4:8)."

Lunminthang Haokip

* Lunminthang Haokip wrote this article for e-pao.net
The writer can be contacted at ltphai1972(AT)gmail(DOT)com
This article was webcasted on 25 February, 2017.