Stop Polishing a Resume God Already Threw Away

I was talking with a guy a while back and he asked me a question that caught me off guard. He said, “Where’d you learn all your stuff?”

I didn’t really know how to answer that. Because if you look at my resume, there’s not much there. I’ve been kicked out of three colleges and two internships. I don’t have a degree. I’ve done some dumb stuff and been pulled over by the popo more than once. On paper, I’m not qualified to do any of this.

But here’s what I told him. I learned it because people didn’t give up on me. I learned it because my mom kept making me come back to church. I learned it because Todd Griffith became a mentor and wouldn’t let me fall away. I learned it because of Nina. I learned it because people like you kept showing up.

And honestly, I think we all do this. We look at our life and we try to sort ourselves into one of two bins.

You’re either in the “I’ve Got This” camp or the “I’m a Loser” camp.

The first group is the “Success” crowd. You’ve made good decisions. You’ve got the career, the family looks good on Facebook, and you’ve generally stayed out of the ditch. Your problem is pride. You think you don’t need a Savior because your engine is still running fine.

The second group is the “Washed Up” crowd. You’ve made the dumb choices. You’re loaded with shame and guilt. You think you’re too far gone, too messy, or too broken for God to bother with. Your problem is also pride. You think your failure is bigger than His grace.

Both of you are listening to a lie from the pit.

The Resume of a Dead Man

We spend so much time polishing our resumes. We want to show God and our neighbors why we deserve a win. We hide our struggles behind a Sunday Evening Mask to look the part. Or we spend all our time staring at our rap sheet, convinced that our past defines our chassis.

But The Resurrection changes the hardware of your life.

When Jesus walked out of that tomb, He didn’t just provide a spiritual boost for good people. He conquered the power of sin once and for all. That means the wages of your sin, all the muck and the mire, has been defeated. It also means your success doesn’t earn you a single point of righteousness.

Stop focusing on the surface. Focus on the Rescue.

In the Kingdom, we don’t boast in how well we’ve performed. We boast in the Hero who pulled us out of the pit. If you’ve succeeded, it’s by God’s grace. If you’ve failed, God’s grace has brought you to this moment to respond to Him again.

God isn’t trying to salvage your life. He isn’t shook by your mess, and He isn’t impressed by your trophies. He wants your heart.

Drive a Stake in the Ground

It’s time to cross into a next era of how you see yourself.

You aren’t a loser. You aren’t a self-made success. You are a rescued child of the one true living God. Your name is already written in His book, and you can live with that kind of confidence starting this Wednesday.

The War is Over. The Victory is won. Now you just have to learn how to walk it out.

Mission This Week: Identify the one area where you’ve been relying on your own strength or hiding in your own shame. Stop talking about the struggle and start declaring the Promise. Tell someone (a spouse, a friend, or a brother at Bible Study) that Jesus is your righteousness, period. Stop checking your own pulse and start looking at the Hero. He hasn’t quit on you, and He isn’t going to start now. If you’re a man who feels like he’s been going it alone, our Men’s resources will show you what biblical brotherhood looks like.

See you Sunday,
Pastor Jeremy