A matter of credentials

Gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn. — Matthew 13:30

For 11 years, an official at a Michigan community college impressed fellow workers as a highly qualified and faithful administrator. He did his work so well that the Board of Trustees named him as a finalist in their search for a new president of the school. Then a routine background check was made on him. What it turned up surprised everyone. No documentation could be found for the man’s master’s and doctoral degrees.

When told about the problem in a special meeting, the man excused himself from the room to get his transcripts — and never came back. What seemed so bizarre to his fellow workers was that he had been such an excellent administrator for so long.

Just as that administrator was able to deceive his colleagues, so also spiritual counterfeits are able to deceive their friends in the church. They have cleverly faked credentials of belief and may remain undetected until God’s judgment.

We know that counterfeit Christians are in our churches. So we need to be alert to problems they can cause, like false teaching and spreading strife. But we also need to be careful about making false judgments about others. According to Jesus, many of “the tares” won’t be revealed until the final judgment (Matthew 13:36-43). — Mart De Haan

One day before God’s judgment bar All sham and pretense will take flight; We’ll all be known for who we are— There’ll be no hiding from His sight. — D. De Haan

READ:Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

People will not be judged by the way we see them, but by the way God sees them.

The Bible in one year: • James 1-2