Your aptitude isn't determined by your genes

What God gives us—including intelligence and understanding—isn't limited.

By Cynthia Cook Wiggins

Remember The Film "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" which combined animation with live actors? There was a line in the dialogue that really stood out to me. The female heroine, one of the cartoon characters, said, "I'm not bad; I'm just drawn that way!"

How many times have most of us thought, like this cartoon character, "I just can't help myself; that's just the way I am."

But listen to these words about how we were "drawn." "The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee" (Jer. 31:3). With lovingkindness. God created man in His image and likeness. Such an image certainly doesn't include defects in aptitude or character. God didn't create His child to be selfish, argumentative, quick-tempered, or ignorant and limited in capacities. Man is perfect, the likeness of God, and so there's a sound and spiritual basis for making real progress in our lives.

A side effect of this healing was that she found she could also conquer her fear of sports.

A college student dreaded taking a required mathematics course because of the difficulty she had had with this subject in high school. Her father had a doctorate in math, but her mother was an artist. She was convinced that she had inherited artistic ability from her mother because she could paint and draw. But when it came to math, she felt that heredity had failed her; she just couldn't understand the concepts, much less put them into practice. Aptitude tests in school had even confirmed that she didn't have the ability to understand math.

She knew that this view of herself could not be God's view of His creation. What was true about her, as God's image, had to be more powerful and real than anything to the contrary. So she determined to think about herself as God's image, made in His likeness, and to start the math course without any preconceived notions of limitation. She knew that there was an unlimited fountain of Godlike qualities she could draw from and that her intelligence and perception came from God, not from any biological connection. Whenever fear about her abilities started to overwhelm her, she argued against being afraid, on the basis of her innate goodness and intelligence.

This citation from Science and Health gave her hope: "Working and praying with true motives, your Father will open the way" (p. 326). She realized that, listening to God, she would know what she needed in order to improve. In the following months, she began to gain more dominion in her math skills. At the end of the course, her grade was an A. What a triumph! She had won her freedom from a limited view of herself. After that, she confidently held many job positions that required making financial transactions. A side effect of this healing was that she found she could also conquer her fear of sports; she is now an avid snowboarder and mountain climber.

Jesus said, "I can of mine own self do nothing" (John 5:30). Although he honored his earthly parents, his true Parent was God, from whom he had inherited everything good. Like Jesus, we can prove the full potential of our identity as God's child.

Not only are we perfectly drawn by God, but with indelible, permanent ink!

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