The Smartest People

 Smart as a tack, smarty pants, smart allelic, too smart for his britches, smart as a whip—I’ve heard the word smart used in these ways most of my life. I have applied some of these statements to refer to people on occasion.. A couple of them are complimentary, and the others are just the opposite. I know many smart people. I know people who consider themselves to be smart, but they not nearly as smart as they think they are. 

What is the criteria for being smart. Are we smart because we have gone to college and have earned several degrees? Are all intelligent people necessarily smart? Does great wealth indicate that a person is smart? What about those who hold positions of great influence and make decisions which affect all of us? Are they smart? Absolutely not! My answer to all of these questions is no. He who thinks he is smarter than everyone else is not smart at all. 

I grew up in a farming community where most people were far from being wealthy. Many, like my parents, never had the opportunity to get more than an eighth grade education. Very few had gone to college. They were hard working, Bible believing, God fearing people. They loved God, loved others and were always willing to help their neighbors. They would not consider themselves as being smart. They were not concerned about something like that. But they were some of the smartest, and wisest people I’ve ever known. 

One day Peter and John were at the temple, and they were proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus. They were unlearned men according to the Pharisees. Yet, crowds of people were listening to what they had to say, and they were believing their message. This greatly disturbed the religious leaders who definitely considered themselves to be smarter and more important than the common people.  

The scripture says that those who say there is no God are fools. Today there are many in high positions who are fools, far from being smart. They may say they believe in God, but the god they believe in is not the true God. When people like this teach our children, make decisions about cirriculum, run our universities, control our government, make the laws, and define morality we are in trouble. 

The smartest people in world are those who know God, listen to him, love him and obey him.  They forsake the things of the world and understand that they are first and foremost citizens of the kingdom of the God.