“Pastor, I’m noticing that I’m no longer as smart as I used to be, even though I still read and do the things I used to do. What could be wrong?”

Alot could have gone wrong, but let’s touch a few key causes.

Meanwhile, a smart person is one who is simply bright or intelligent as far as society is concerned. Anybody who is able to meet societal demands in a quick and flawless fashion is often called a smart person. Your boss probably entrusts you with certain responsibilities because he knows you’d be smart in handling them. Being smart doesn’t necessarily mean you know everything, rather, it just means even if you don’t know what you’re tasked with, you’d still get it done within a stipulated time frame.

The disciples of Jesus were not smart people at the start. Recall how Jesus asked them to feed the five thousand people? They began to make excuses as to why it’s impossible to feed them in that desert. Smart people don’t make excuses, they get things done, the condition notwithstanding. Many people would term what Jesus later did as divine, but in this world, it’s simply called a display of smartness. The ability to know what to do and do it in a timely and flawless fashion. That’s right! The bible says, “Jesus himself knew what he would do”. He only asked his disciples to do it just to test their smartness in handling spiritual things.

Now, let me be more detailed. I’d show you a few things that can negatively influence your smartness or intelligence:

– STALE KNOWLEDGE

Smartness is measured by the relevance of the knowledge or information in your mind. For instance, the disciples were with Christ, yet they didn’t know that they could do all things through Christ’s strengthening. They didn’t know that with God, nothing shall be impossible.

They didn’t need to know how to feed the five thousand people, they just needed to know that Christ could strengthen them to feed them. Unfortunately, they didn’t have that kind of information or knowledge in their mind at that time. It is true that no knowledge is a waste, but many people haven’t realized that knowledge can be stale. Ofcourse the disciples of Jesus knew how to feed people, they just didn’t know how to feed that amount of people in a deserted place.

I’m glad you said you still read, yet you’re not as smart as you used to be. It’s possible that what you’re reading is not useful to the situations ot these times. A person that must remain smart must focus on consuming information that is relative, practical, and applicable to the current situations around him. The information doesn’t have to be current, it can as well be a knowledge from history, but the goal should be to solve current problems.

Even in scripture, it is clear that lack of adequate knowledge can limit the progress of a person. Don’t waste your time reading things that isn’t going to contribute to your relevance today. If what I’m reading isn’t going to help me become more effective in my work, then it’s a waste of time reading it.

– RELATIONSHIPS

Who do you spend time with? Who are your friends or companions? The Message translation of Proverbs 13:20 says, “Become wise by walking with the wise; hang out with fools and watch your life fall to pieces”.

You may be a great reader, but if you keep company with foolish people, their foolishness will rob off on you. This is a spiritual law! And just because they act smart outwardly doesn’t mean this law will not work.

Anybody who must remain smart or intelligent must choose his companions wisely. It’s only iron that can sharpen iron. A smart person shouldn’t be friends with a foolish person except the foolish person desires to be smart. Even at that, the friendship should be at a mentorship level at first.

Jesus didn’t call his disciples friends in the beginning, they were called servants. It was after he had mentored them that he began to call them friends. Let’s see how scriptures put it:

John 15:
14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

Did you see that? He called them servants until he had transmitted enough knowledge into them to make them his friends. They all had professions, which means they were intelligent in their own way, yet he called them servants. They were not intelligent enough to be friends with him, even with their profession. You have to choose your friends wisely.

There are some people that may need to end their dating relationships, and that’s because they started going down intellectually and even spiritually the moment they entered that relationship. This thing called emotion has destroyed many lives. How can you not see that such relationships should not be entered? If you meet someone today and things immediately begin to go bad for you, isn’t that a sign that you’ve entered a wrong relationship? Why do you want to make the mistake of Samson? Delilah may be beautiful, but companionship with her will destroy you, no matter how beautiful and modest she presents herself.

As I conclude, read things that are relevant and applicable to life, and ensure you maintain wise relationships. As a new wife, comsume knowledge about family, raising children, mentoring kids, being a woman and a mother, don’t go and start reading about Physics and Chemistry – seeing that you may not need that knowledge any time soon. Walk with and make friends with mothers who know how to keep their home together, not the ones that gossip around. As a new employee, study the vision and goals of the organization you work with. Study about their products and services and how they can impact the world. Study about your role and how you can improve on it. Don’t go about reading relationship books at that level, it will affect your delivery.

I hope this has brought enlightenment to someone.

Remain ever blessed, in Jesus precious name!

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