Qualified – God's character from A to Z

Qualifications are paramount in our society. We qualify for sports teams and rankings. We qualify for school honors and special activities. We qualify to drive. We qualify to gain employment. We qualify for job promotions. We qualify to purchase vehicles or homes. We’re all about measuring up – in all sorts of ways.

Do we ever stop trying to qualify ourselves? Should we?

Sure, sometimes this is an essential practice. We write and polish our resumes. We file copies of letters of commendation, just in case we ever need them. We frame and display our diplomas and awards on our walls.

Maybe we are aimed at qualifying ourselves for some future event. Or we may be echoing how we are already qualified, for others’ or our own benefit.

I even have a Good News Box in my office.

Whenever I receive a particularly positive note, a message of sincere thanks, or an affirming card, I tuck it into that box. Then, when I feel sort of beaten down, I like to open the box and dig through some of the dearness found there. That usually builds me up again and makes me feel less unqualified for life.

Good news can give us a lift sometimes.

God delights in praise, too. But He doesn’t depend on it. The Lord God is already qualified.

He invented the concept.

The Bible says God is “enthroned on the praises of Israel” (Psalm 22:3b, ESV).  That means God inhabits (or is present in) the adoration and worship from His people, but He doesn’t need our affirmation to be the Almighty. He simply is. He is Jehovah, the Great I AM.

In the English language, the word “qualified” has two basic meanings.  

One points to possessing the necessary credentials, competence, capability, and completeness for a given purpose. The second speaks of limitations or conditionality, as in a qualified approval (which is really only a partial one).

God is qualified (in the first sense) with no qualification (in the second sense) of His qualification (in the first sense again). Without question, no one comes close.

“Who among the gods is like You, Lord? Who is like You – majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?” (Exodus 15:11, NIV)

Here’s some good news that far surpasses any of the stuff in my Good News box. God makes us qualified too. He qualifies us to meet his 100% righteous standard. He qualifies us for eternity with Him in His holy and high Heaven.

Remember the third verse of the beloved Christmas carol, “Away in a Manger”? It says:

Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay
Close by me forever, and love me, I pray;
Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care,
And fit us for Heaven to live with Thee there.

We don’t often sing all the verses, but the third one is a gem. The Lord Himself fits us for Heaven. He makes us fit and worthy and … you got it … qualified.

Take a look:

“Being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.” (Colossians 1:11-12, NIV, emphasis added).

The Qualified became the Qualifier, when He sent His Son to buy us back from ourselves and make us worthy and fit for Heaven and qualified.

Image/s:

Adapted from public domain art

Bible verse graphic – created on quote generator

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