When Credentials Do Not Reveal Character

Have you ever been so impressed with a description of someone’s past that you can’t wait to meet them in the present? Enamored with their list of accomplishments and feats, you have already crowned them with glory and honor. You have assumed everything you’ve heard about them is true and was done in pursuit of benevolence. Both of those assumptions are risky and rushed. A list of accomplishments may be the brightest side of someone’s history, while their dark side might be the rest of the story.

We can’t judge character through community credentials or a curriculum vitae because degrees can deceive us.

In judging quality character from qualifications, the apostle John advises us not to believe everything we hear but to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world”. Jesus even warned his disciples.

In reality, godly qualifications come not through the world but from the Word. Quality comes from intentionality.