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Wednesday, August 15, 2007

What Are Your Qualifications?

The angry voice repeated it over and over - "What are your qualifications?" "What are your qualifications?"

Here was one of the more lovely aspects of ministry - an irate individual giving me a piece of his mind over the phone. And throughout his tirade, that question kept coming - a question which I couldn't help but ponder as his torrent of words poured from the telephone. Just what are my qualifications, anyway? Who am I to give advice or counsel to somebody else?

The fact is, no one of us is qualified to provide advice to another. We are all sinners, aren't we? "For all have sinned; all fall short of God's glorious standard." (Romans 3:23 NLT) Jesus gave some potent instruction about this very concept:
Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. (Matthew 7:1-5 NIV)
We are all flawed. We are all struggling with sin. We are all in need of help and advice, but none of us are qualified to give it! What a mess we are in!

And that, my friend, is where God's Word comes into the picture. We can't trust the words of men, but we can trust the Word of God. It, and it alone, is our standard. When we base what we do, what we think, what we say, and what we tell others only on what the Bible teaches, we are on solid ground.

That is our goal at RCC. We don't want to share our opinions with you - only God's Word as revealed in the Bible. We have no qualification except that.

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