God Loves Smart People

God loves that you are intelligent.

God loves that you love to create.

God loves that you are SMART.

Religion makes you blind and dumb.

But God did not make you dumb or blind. He gave you a brain. He modeled you after Himself. If you are a mathematician, guess what? So is He. If you are a poet, guess what? So is He. If you are an engineer, guess what? So is He. If you are a mother, guess what? So is He. If you are a doctor, guess what? So is He. If you are a teacher, guess what? So is He. If you are a lover, guess what? So is He.

And He loves you.

If you are a Christian, you are allowed to be talented, brilliant, and inventive. You aren't just allowed, it's expected. It's part of how He designed you to be.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me."

We have misplaced the meaning of denying ourselves. We must deny the selfishness in us. We must not, under any circumstances, deny what God has placed within us.

These are two separate things.

God loves that I am a poet at heart. God loves that I love to teach. God loves that I love deep conversations. He placed these things within me. These are reflections of Himself.

I had a conversation with someone that I deeply care about who is going to school for engineering. He said, "You are closer to God because you are good at English. You understand the bible better than me. I am just logical and I just don't get it."

This statement was never ever meant to be true. This person is also a reflection of God. God is logical! God is an engineer! God figured out a way to make EVERYTHING work. Air. Gravity. Organs. God is a builder.

And He has given us authority and commissioned us to build.

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God doesn't sit around and read His word all day long.

God is His word. God lives His word. God acts on His word. He is not contained or restrained by it.

We eat and sleep His word, but we do so that we may also live His word. Living it is better than memorizing it.

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If you are not a Christian, being intelligent and believing in God are not contradictory. He designed you to think. He designed you to create. He designed you to desire to know Him.

My friend Zheng told me just the other day, "There's spirituality, and there's also personality." You can have spirituality and personality. Jesus was both natural and supernatural. It's okay, you can have both too.