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“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35, NIV).
For the last month, my husband and I have walked through a devastating season. We lost a dear friend to cancer, I was rejected by my seventeenth publisher, and our mold renovation was going to cost triple the amount we originally anticipated. To top it off, I was told that my writing was good, but I still wasn’t experienced or credentialed enough to traditionally publish a book—talk about a slap in the face. And yet, this got me thinking:
Are we known by our kindness or our credentials? Are we known by what we say or what we do? Are we known for who we think we are, or who God says we are? Are we known by our striving or our peace? Are we known by our trust or our doubt? I have to wonder if you’ve wrestled with any similar questions.
Though kindness is one of the fruits of the Spirit, it can also overflow from the others: things like love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness, and self-control all, in a sense, can also reflect acts of kindness within us. Bob Goff, author of “Love Does,” says it this way: “It will be our kindness, not our qualifications, that outlast us.”
Over the last few months, I’ve felt the Lord speaking a compelling message over my heart, and that’s this: “Amber, I have called you to share your message. You may not know what all that will entail, but I’ve called you. I’ve called you, not your credentials.”
Friends, credentials can be an important part of our careers (if God calls you to something that requires them), but your credentials aren’t your identity. Passages like John 1:12, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 1:5, and Galatians 3:28 all point to the true source of our identity. But you know what they don’t say? They don’t say that we need to have a PhD, LPC, or Master’s to make a difference.
According to Christ, we’ve been made in His image, regardless of what we do. Genesis 1:27 says it this way: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27, ESV). 2 Corinthians 5:17 furthers this point—“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (ESV).
In Christ (and not ourselves), we are chosen, loved, and called to excellency (1 Peter 2:9). We aren’t called to prove ourselves or our worth. We aren’t called to question our calling. We aren’t even called to be something we aren’t. But you know what we are called to do: We’re called to be kind and be known by that kindness. Your kindness will outlast every degree or credential to your name. That doesn’t make it less important; rather, it makes your mission that more crucial.
