Thursday, September 30, 2021

What does it mean to be “smart”?

 




Are you smart?

Did you know reading, meditating, memorizing and embracing the truths of scripture is an education?

What does it mean to be “smart”? 

It may mean an innate intellectual capacity that someone is born with. Some people are gifted by God with a very high IQ. While their capacity for learning is high it is no guarantee that they will reach their maximum capacity.

To be smart could also be the person who perhaps doesn’t have the same intellectual gifts but has worked hard, read a lot and possesses a great understanding of the world.

Some may say that the person with the most degrees is the smartest.

It is possible for a person to be smart in a single area of life. There are those who know very little about the world but are experts on a sporting team or a certain hobby.

Perhaps experience is the best teacher, therefore those with the most years behind them are the smartest people.

The Psalmist in Psalm 119 makes a very interesting point in verses 97-104.

It is his determination that those who study, understand, meditate on and obey the truth of scripture are the smartest people alive.

97 Oh how I love your law!
    It is my meditation all the day.
98 Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies,
    for it is ever with me.
99 I have more understanding than all my teachers,
    for your testimonies are my meditation.
100 I understand more than the aged,
    for I keep your precepts.
101 I hold back my feet from every evil way,
    in order to keep your word.
102 I do not turn aside from your rules,
    for you have taught me.
103 How sweet are your words to my taste,
    sweeter than honey to my mouth!
104 Through your precepts I get understanding;
    therefore I hate every false way.


Knowing the scripture makes one , “Wiser than the enemy, more understanding than their teachers and they know more than the aged”. It protects them from sinful stupidity, develops in us a deep love for its truth and provides for us great understanding. 

How is it that knowledge of scripture accelerates one ahead of another?

The Bible is the source of knowledge and wisdom about the most important things in life. It answers the questions that everyone is asking. It is speaks to the ultimate reality of life, death and eternity. It is the most reliable history book every written. It tells us where we came from, and where we are going. It tells us what our greatest problem is and gives us the solution. It introduces us to our maker and pours out the wisdom of God.  To know these things, is to be smart, to be unaware of these truths is ultimate foolishness.

When an individual is deeply acquainted with and daily involved in the scripture that person is “smarter” then an atheistic physics professor at Harvard.

This morning I encourage you to spend a few minutes before going to school or work in the Word of God.

Thank God for His Word.

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