IS GOD A PART OF YOUR RESUME

“ If I must boast, I would rather boast about the things that show how weak I am.” – 2 Corinthians 11:30

Candidates who interview for a job are often in the awkward position of trying to sell themselves to a potential employer. They list their accomplishments and describe their strengths to portray themselves in the best possible light. A resume is your way of introducing yourself and giving that potential employer a chance to determine if they want to get to know you any better.

The resume helps distinguish your work and experience from the hundreds of other resumes. In Philippians 3, Paul presents us with his religious resume. And what a resume it was: his resume has a pretty long list of accomplishments and achievements.

In Paul’s day, many people confused their religious resumes with faith in God. Their resume was built on an individual’s accomplishments rather than what God had done in, through, and for them. That is still true of us today. We’re told to be productive, make a name for ourselves, and pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. We’re told to harness the power of positive thinking, to tap the secret deep inside ourselves, to be self-made people. We are self-made, on our own, and completely self-sufficient. The problem with focusing inward and cataloging our accomplishments is that, after a while, we begin to believe our PR.

Then, Paul reminds us of our priorities. It’s all about having a relationship with Christ. It’s bigger than us. It’s about our values, attitudes, and behaviors shaped by Jesus Christ. It has nothing to do with what people think of us or whether we’re keeping up the right religious appearances. None of it matters. All that matters is Jesus.

Yes, that is counterintuitive to what society tells us, but this is really good news. We don’t have to prove yourself to anyone. We don’t have to be a mega Christian. We don’t have to have a sparkling spiritual resume. We can be ourselves with all our doubts, fears and shortcomings as anyone else in the room. We come to the realization that everything does not rise and fall on our personal accomplishments, because we are part of something greater than ourselves.

If you have worked on being a self-made Christian by beefing up your religious resume, consider Paul’s message to press on even more diligently in winning the prize, which is a life with Jesus.

Discussion Questions:

1. What is Paul’s number one priority? What is your number one priority?
2. What can we do this week to build our spiritual resume?