“What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?”
Psalm 8:4
We have allowed the world around us to determine our potential. Teachers say to students: “You are a C student.” The student then goes around believing that, and he becomes an average student for the rest of his life—an average person even. He becomes an average husband. She becomes an average wife. We become average parents and average children with average attitudes and IQs. And when we turn out to be average, our parents say: “Well, honey, you have my genes.” No. They received your attitude that was transmitted to you from that teacher.
You need to shake off what people call IQs. Do you know what “IQ” means? It means Intelligence Quotient—it’s what people believe your degree of intelligence is based upon some tests you take. These tests measure your motor skills, your thinking ability, your cognitive ability, your reading ability, your math ability, etc. Then based on these tests they say, “You are a D student. You are a D person.” You haven’t even grown up yet and they are telling you what you are going to be and do! They don’t know what you are going to do.
Unfortunately, people believe what they are told based on those tests. There are thousands of examples in history of men and women who were put off and cast out as misfits. Later they turned out to be some of the world’s greatest leaders. We must be careful when we start putting Intelligence Quotients on people. Your potential has nothing to do with those tests. Only God determines your potential. Your IQ is spelled H-O-L-Y S-P-I-R-I-T. Your IQ is something that goes far beyond the pages of a test. It goes all the way to God.
Only God determines your potential.
