"Everyone is Smart!" (1 Corinthians 12:2)

"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

This quotation is widely attributed to Albert Einstein, but regardless of who said it, the sentiment it expresses is worth consideration. God has created us with different preferences to learn and with varying abilities to accomplish certain tasks.

I have seen this in my own life. As a physician, I had to decide by my third year of medical school, what specialty I would pursue. I am a very visual learner. Thus, specialities like surgery, requiring precise manual dexterity, or psychiatry, requiring prolonged introspective reflection, did not appeal to my abilities. But pathology and dermatology did! And it is fitting that I now practice the medical specialty of dermatopathology-a combination of the two most visually exacting specialties in medicine.

Had I pursued a career in surgery, it is unlikely I would have completed a surgery residency program, much less get accepted. It would not be because of poor grades or preparation, just lack of ability. It is not my gift. Believers in the Church are no different.

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.

1 Corinthians 12:2 (ESV)

In the Church, the Holy Spirit has bestowed, upon all believers, different gifts and abilities. It is sometimes easy and dangerous to slip into casual judgment of other’s abilities. Like the admonition of the quotation, we need to be more circumspect in our observations. We need to take a much broader view of everyone’s abilities, not judging or comparing each other’s talents and abilities but understanding that God is growing and nourishing His Church through these gifts. Everyone is precious in God’s eyes and everyone is being used to grow and establish God’s Kingdom.

Only God can rightfully judge us because He created us for His purpose. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, give thanks to Him for your gifts and abilities. Ask Him to show you how to best use your gifts to serve Him and others.

Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.