Spiritual Resume

Are you constructing a spiritual resume? If you are making a conscious choice to perform many "works" for the Lord, you have a spiritual resume.

What does it look like? Are you making a list of qualifications and experience? If so, you might have a bullet point list that goes something like this:

Qualifications:
Pastor
Member of a church
Associated to a "religion"
Serve in youth ministry
Attend a bible study
Choir and worship team leader

Experience:
Door Greeter
Usher
Coffee maker
Janitor
Prayer team
Present for every potluck
Always sit in the same row EVERY SUNDAY
Give offering, perhaps even a tithe
Wear a cross around my neck
Have a W.W.J.D. bracelet
Attended a missions trip
Adopted a child through Compassion International
Fast and pray
Church Board
Take communion
Obedient to sacrifice for lent

...I think you get the picture.

In James 2:26 says, "As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead." In other words, as impressive as it is to have a list of "good works", without faith, belief in Jesus' atonement for your sin, your works are in vain. Don't put on a show and think that your list will impress God to the point where he makes an exception for you.

Picture this scenario. Upon your death you submit your spiritual resume and it's a thousand pages long. God glances over your list and raises His Holy eyebrow toward you. He sets your resume down and says, "I gave my son Jesus to die on the cross for your sin, but I will forget about that because you have such an impressive list of "good things" on your resume that I'll let you enter on your own merit."

I DON'T THINK SO!

Why would God admit a sinner into heaven because they worked hard enough? Jesus IS enough. Sin separates us from God, there is no way that He would allow a human, under their own efforts enter heaven.

So this I conclude. Ephesians 2:8 says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift of God, not by works so no one can boast."

When you accept God's grace-filled gift that He, alone, sent His son to live a perfect life on this earth so that by His death our sins are covered. You accept that Jesus' sacrifice alone is sufficient to pass heaven's admissions test. Because of THAT faith, your life work is to honor God and "Live Out Loud" for Him because you and me are overflowing with gratitude that can't be measured by a spiritual resume, nor do we have any desire for it to be. We understand that we live a life that honors him and contributes to advancing God's kingdom in the short time we are given on this earth, it's not about working our way there. We can't.