Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus, from his book,  The Genius of Jesus   (p. 45). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) And that is important to know. Erwin continues, "Genius is a form of stewardship. To unlock your genius, you must choose to bear the weight of great responsibility. When Mary asked Jesus why he had gone to the Temple, his answer reflected a nonnegotiable intention: 'Did you not know that I must be in my father’s house?' He must be there. He must do this. This was not optional. This was his purpose." Erwin says, "There were many things Jesus did not come to do. He did not solve all the world’s problems or remove corrupt leaders from their positions. There were many things, too, that Jesus did, but that were not his purpose. He did heal the sick, but he did not heal all the sick. He came to save humanity from itself. He came to do what no one else could do. In this way, all manifes...

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus, from his book,  The Genius of Jesus   (p. 42). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) We always, it seems, want to give answers but it's in our questions where we really find ourselves and learn? Erwin says, "For three days Jesus sat there, deep in conversation with experts on the Torah and the teachers of the Law. These men had spent their entire lives studying the ancient text we know as the scriptures. They were also the stewards of the over 613 laws that had been added to the Law and the Prophets, dictating the Israelites’ behavior and everyday lives. We are told that Jesus sat among these great teachers for days, listening to them and asking them questions. It is one thing for a twelve-year-old to have information memorized by rote repetition. It’s quite another for him to understand the complexity of the material well enough to ask meaningful questions." He continues...

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus, from his book,  The Genius of Jesus   (p. 32). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.)  That is a very interesting and challenging thought. Erwin continues, "The question that demands to be answered is: Where did it go, and what would you be willing to do to reawaken the genius within you?" He says, "I’ve interviewed countless people and taken hundreds of informal surveys while speaking to audiences around the world. When I ask a room, 'How many of you would describe yourselves as creative geniuses?' the number of people who answer affirmatively is usually less than 1 percent. Ninety-nine percent of the room consider themselves uncreative, and at best wish they were creative like those they admire. "I usually ask a follow-up question: 'How many of you would consider yourselves linguistic savants?' The number who say they do is even less than 1 percent....

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus, from his book,  The Genius of Jesus   (p. 26). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) So that is a necessary place to start. Erwin continues this thought, "If we can understand the origins of genius, we might discover how to replicate it for ourselves. Put another way, we can ask: What does a genius do instinctively that we could begin to do intentionally?" They can do it! He says, "I discovered the critical relationship of the loss of divergent thinking in adulthood and its detrimental impact in every discipline of life while working with universities to develop master’s and doctoral programs, consulting with CEOs and entrepreneurs, doing life coaching with professional athletes and sports leagues, and consulting with churches and denominations. According to one study, at least 95 percent of children are divergent thinkers before the age of twelve. In other words, we are...

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus, from his book,  The Genius of Jesus   (p. 26). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) So true, so very true. Erwin says, "It is one thing when genius gives us new music, a new art form or technology, or a great advancement in science or medicine. But while genius can give us a better world to live in, it almost never makes us better, kinder, more compassionate, more honorable, more courageous, more humane." He continues, "I think of the phrase we often use as an excuse for our worst behavior: 'Well, I’m only human.' Our history as a species is riddled with love and hate, with compassion and violence, with betrayal and loyalty, with bitterness and forgiveness. All these are equally the human story. The tragedy is that somewhere along the line, the worst expressions of our nature became the norm and the best of us became lost in ideals. Religion told us we were all ...

  A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus, from his book,  The Genius of Jesus   (p. 24). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Maybe this is true of you. Erwin continues, "Frankly, a huge reason I am compelled to believe is because of who I was, who I have become, and who I am still becoming. My high school English literature teacher told me not to bother going to college because I would never make it. Forty years later I am the author of ten books, have won awards as a writer, and have received a doctorate in humane letters. I didn’t have a future before my encounter with Jesus. Now, for more than thirty-five years, I have traveled the world and made a living as a futurist consulting with corporations and coaching CEOs, entrepreneurs, and leaders from the business world, professional sports, and higher education." A caterpillar to a butterfly He then says, "I am convinced that my life is the outcome of th...

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus, from his book,  The Genius of Jesus   (p. 20). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) This is good. Erwin continues, "I fully believe in the divinity of Jesus and in the historical accuracy of all the scriptures. I believe God stepped into human history, took on flesh and blood, and walked among us, and that his name is Jesus. It doesn’t lessen my fascination with the humanity of Jesus. Neither does it diminish his genius." He says, "If you are a person of faith, it may feel offensive to you to explore Jesus’s genius apart from his divinity. But I believe that we have for too long attributed all that Jesus did, and all that he was, to his divine nature. Other than convincing us of his divinity, I wonder, what can we learn from the Jesus who walked on water, fed thousands with only five fish and two loaves of bread, and healed the sick? Could it be that our fixation on the...

  A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus, from his book,  The Genius of Jesus   (p. 18). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Erwin goes on, "Or maybe, Jesus made me human again. "The data goes far beyond my own personal experience. For more than two thousand years, millions of people across the world have been transformed through their faith in Jesus Christ. If you were a cultural anthropologist looking to examine this phenomenon from a purely scientific perspective, you would have a massive sample size. The control group stretches across all of modern history, every economic and educational stratum, and virtually every culture across the face of the earth." He says, "Academics even have a term for how a culture is transformed through belief in Jesus Christ: 'redemption and lift.' In his book Underdevelopment Is a State of Mind , economist Lawrence E. Harrison observed how the Christian mindset...

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus, from his book,  The Genius of Jesus   (p. 16). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Good, good, what are they? Unbelievable! Erwin says, "Genius sees what no one has seen and hears what no one has heard. It explains what could not be understood, creates what could not be imagined. Whatever the genius does with their talents, they do it better than it has ever been done—and, more often than not, make it look easy while doing it." He continues, "If I were to make a short list of what marks a genius, I would say: They are heretical. They are original. They are transformative in their field. They are extremist. "They are heretical in that they violate the status quo and challenge our most deeply held beliefs and values. They are original in that they see the world from a perspective that has never existed before. They are transformative in that their lives become a mar...

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus, from his book, The Genius of Jesus   (p. 7). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Genius, maybe there is something here to challenge us. Erwin says, "The word 'genius' is expressive of the capacity to be generative. The genius gives birth to something new. The genius creates. The mark of true genius is that the impossible becomes possible. The unknowable becomes knowable. The invisible becomes visible. The genius speaks the future into existence. Genius expresses itself in every domain in which humans create. Wherever there is a field of human accomplishment, there is potential for the expression of genius." He goes on, "The genius does not always have the highest IQ, the best education, or even the most comprehensive knowledge of their field. But their combination of originality, imagination, creativity, perspective, passion, and intelligence merge together to ...