2022: Stay the Course! - The Problem with Genius
Our world is rapidly striving after genius. The days of farmers plowing straight furrows, where the first furrow set the direction for each successive furrow, are gone thanks to GPS-guided tractors. Instead of lining up with some visual reference point at the end of the field and aiming toward it, you can now simply punch coordinates into a computer; the GPS does the rest. You don't even have to be in the cab of some tractors.
Likewise, we now have experimental driverless road vehicles guided by sensors, computers, and the ever-present GPS. Then there are the driver-driven vehicles with lane-changing assist aids and blind spot warning signals. But there is a problem with genius. With all the technology and human wisdom, we often lose sight of what real wisdom is and, therefore, what real genius is.
Pastor and author Erwin McManus writing in The Genius of Jesus: The Man Who Changed Everything says this about genius; “We most often consider genius as an expression of talent, what you do. We rarely think of genius as an expression of essence or what you are. Jesus changes the category of genius from talent and intellect to essence and wisdom” (McManus, 2021, p. 34).
Why is this important for us to note? McManus describes Jesus, at age 12, at the temple conversing with the teachers of the Law; “Here, it seems, that Jesus knew his life depended not only on knowing the Scriptures but on knowing the God of the Scriptures. He found himself in conversation with those who had gained an academic knowledge of the Scriptures but were found tragically absent of the wisdom of God” (McManus, 2021, p. 43).
It is convenient and easy today to gain knowledge of the Word of God without "knowing" the God of the Word. Podcasts, live streaming, book clubs, and a plethora of online talk shows often dull a real appetite for the meat of the Word –knowing the author of the Word. Easy access to information, and the narrative or commentary of others, squelches our curiosity and our thirst to know the author of the Word. We quickly become content with the narrative of others. I think Jesus calls us to something better. Real genius is not marked by intellect or ability, but by the wisdom that comes from above. This wisdom draws us to engage with the One who seeks authentic relationship with each of us as His image bearers.
“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him" (James 1:5). Wisdom and genius seem to go together. Wisdom is more than intellectual prowess. Through the Spirit of God, it is the ability to rightly understand both the ways of God and His call in each of our lives so that we might live as His image bearers bringing hope to a lost and hurting world. I think that's what Jesus did, even at the age of twelve. He didn't seek the wisdom of the teachers of the Law or the intellectual and academic genius they desired. He sought His Father, and so should we!
Striving for wisdom!
Rev. Bill Allan
AGC President