If you had to write a resumé for God’s consideration, what would you list on it?

You’d probably assume that you should list all the good, noble, and praiseworthy things you’ve done.

Your perfect church attendance, your faithful donations to Christian charities, and your decades of volunteering at the soup kitchen would certainly top the list on your spiritual resumé.

You’d also want to throw in your kindness to others, your endless good deeds, and the fact that people consider you a saint.

It probably wouldn’t hurt to mention your lack of even so much as a parking ticket on your driving record.

All this would surely carry weight with God, wouldn’t it? Your impressive list of virtuous accomplishments would undoubtedly factor into in His decision as to whether He would accept you or not.

Or would it?

The truth is that nothing we do is good enough to merit Heaven.

“We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags.” (Isaiah 64:6)

In fact, the only things we bring to the table when we face Christ are the very sins that need forgiveness and our utter powerlessness to save ourselves.

The type of resumé items that qualify us to approach the throne of grace are decidedly different from what you might expect:

“Blessed are those who recognize they are spiritually helpless. The kingdom of heaven belongs to them.” (Matthew 5:3)

“The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.” (Psalm 51:17)

“I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Luke 18:14)

“The high and lofty one who lives in eternity, the Holy One, says this: “I live in the high and holy place with those whose spirits are contrite and humble. I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts.” (Isaiah 57:15)

I like the way Dane Ortlund puts it in his book “Gentle and Lowly”:

“We are declared right with God not once we begin to get our act together, but once we collapse into honest acknowledgement that we never will.”

It is through trust in what Jesus has done for us at the Cross that we are saved: nothing more than that, and nothing less.

“He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” (Titus 3:5)

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

This means that your spiritual resumé will be pretty short.

In fact, it should be a blank page, save for one line:

“I’m a sinner. Jesus is a Saviour. I’m trusting in Him.”

That’s all that was written on the resumé of the thief on the cross, and it was enough to gain him Paradise when he died.

And that’s all you need for God to put your spiritual resumé into His inbox, stamp “Approved” on it, and welcome you with open arms!

© 2025 Lori J. Cartmell. All rights reserved.