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According to the Huffington Post, a 12-year old Indian girl has an IQ of 162—higher than Einstein, Bill Gates, or Stephen Hawkins. As commendable as IQ is, intelligence does not always translate into wisdom. We learn that from the Bible. In giving instructions to the nation of ancient Israel, Moses spoke for God. In Deuteronomy Chapter 4, he told the people that the way to display wisdom and intelligence is by obeying what God has revealed. He stressed that God gave them His laws, not to restrict their freedom, but as a sign of His love—to put them on a path of blessing. The Ten Commandments were the core of God’s laws. God said if you obey them, you will be a model for nations around you. You will impress them, not by your natural resources, your military might, or your wealth. You’ll show your superior wisdom by the way you adhere to my word. As they were about to enter the Promised Land, God warned them of two major pitfalls. One was the temptation to worship idols—objects God has made rather than God, Himself. The other was failing to transmit ethical values to their children. God said if you ignore me and my word, if you fail to transmit my word to your children, you will be unproductive in the land. Today, those who accept God’s Son and yield to His Spirit receive power to obey God’s word. That’s how we show ourselves to be truly wise.
I agree that intelligence doesn’t always translate to wisdom! However, Christians need to ALSO obey the scriptural admonition to love God “with all your MIND.” We don’t value intellectual achievements enough, and we have too much teaching/preaching from pulpits that essentially tells people to obey everything they hear from the man/woman of God! We should not “trade brains for spiritual gifts”; nor should we act as if God is afraid of our questions! God is the author of all truth and knowledge, and we should inculcate a healthy spirit of inquiry among us….God reveals things to us in various ways, and He isn’t running from our difficult questions or punishing us for having minds to question some of the nonsense we hear spoken by so-called “prophets” and pastors! Loving God with all our minds ALSO means teaching our youth to EMBRACE EDUCATION and DISCIPLINE THEMSELVES TO LEARN ALL THEY CAN, ALL THEIR LIVES! The Kingdom of God always needs ambassadors for Christ whose BRAIN CELLS WORK–people who can intelligently
bring the Christian faith into ALL spheres of life!