Word for the day "Intelligence or Intimacy"
John 7:14 (NASB) But when it was now the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and began to teach. 15 The Jews then were astonished, saying, “How has this man become learned, having never been educated?”As one who genuinely appreciates the value of education of all kinds, there are dimensions of God that can only be learned from being at the feet of Christ. Sisters and brothers, all the degrees in the world will not make you or I more like Christ. Only intimacy with Christ can give you a mindset like Him, intelligence will only take you but so far.In his book Mere Christianity C.S. Lewis on the notion of intelligence and being a Christian, the section of Chapter 2 called (The ‘Cardinal Virtues’) of Part 3 (Christian behavior), in which Lewis briefly explains what’s meant by the terms prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude. Specifically, in the section on prudence (“practical common sense, taking the trouble to think out what you’re doing and what is likely to come of it”). I could happily quote great chunks of it, but I’ll limit myself to this, Lewis writes:… “God is no fonder of intellectual slackers than of any other slackers. If you are thinking of becoming a Christian, I warn you, you are embarking on something which is going to take the whole of you, brains and all. But, fortunately, it works the other way round. Anyone who is honestly trying to be a Christian will soon find his intelligence being sharpened: one of the reasons why it needs no special education to be a Christian is that Christianity is an education itself. That is why an uneducated believer like Bunyan was able to write a book [The Pilgrim's Progress] that has astonished the whole world.”This is why intelligent people can believe crazy things. It is because they have made a conscious choice to ignore certain basic problems and accept an existing belief system foundation (Christianity). This in itself may be considered proof of a lack of intelligence, and the point could certainly be made. As I mentioned earlier, “It is one thing to choose between two equally unsubstantiated claims, “Intimacy or Intelligence”. It is quite another to look at two unequal ideas and choose the one with no support simply because one wants it to be accurate.” The intelligent choice, from my perspective, is choosing Christ today and for the rest of your life.