"My Qualification   By Mick Smith

You probably are not going to believe this but some time ago I qualified to go to university; actually it was Oxford University. There we were, stood outside, waiting to go in as we watched the pomp and ceremony of those students who had just finished their studies and were having their photographs taken to capture the moment when I began to consider how it was that I had qualified to get to Oxford many years before I actually went there.

As I did I recalled the words of the examiner, “Congratulations you have passed.” I had done the practical test and had pulled up outside the driving centre, answered a few questions concerning the theory of driving, and sat there waiting for him to fill in the form that he was about to pass to me. The world had suddenly opened up to me; for one thing I no longer was restricted to travel on buses and I was qualified to drive anywhere I wanted. And that’s how I came to get to Oxford!! (I hope you don’t think I was trying to tell you that I was clever enough to get into Oxford to study).

Actually there were some challenging questions that I had to answer in the theory test but none that were too difficult as long as you could read the signs and remember them!!

That set me thinking. Entrance into the Kingdom of God’s beloved Son is by qualification only. The thing I am so glad about is that there is no intellect needed to facilitate the entry for the truth is that it is God who has qualified us (Colossians1:12 RSV). How has He done that? By having delivered us from the dominion of darkness and having transferred us into the Kingdom of His beloved Son (Colossians1:13-14). That’s quite good, to have qualified for such a blessing, and God having qualified us. It’s just one measure of the grace of God that is extended towards us in the context of every spiritual blessing that isours in Christ Jesus (Ephesians1:3)

Entrance into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son is the beginning of new life in Christ. It’s a bit like a university course in that there is so much to learn and, as disciples of the Lord Jesus, we never stop learning. You could say that the course we are on is “the life experience course.” The aim of it is to know how to live in a way that pleases God and the manner of progressing on the course is to know Christ Jesus more and more.

It’s a well established course. It’s one that the Apostle Paul attended. He was so taken up with this course that he counted everything before it as loss for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus his Lord (Philippians3:8). He never claimed to be perfect and he did acknowledge that he had to strain forward but he did learn how to be content in whatever state he found himself. (Philippians3:11)

By the way I need to tell you about my degree. I have not yet finished the course but I already have a degree. It’s a degree of glory and the beauty of it is that I am being changed from one degree of glory to another into the likeness of the One who I desire to know more. The more that I know Him the more I am being changed. That’s the key.

Aren’t you glad that you have been chosen to go on this course? It is by faith, the gift of God through grace, that you have gained entry into the University of Eternal Life in Christ Jesus. The outcome of our qualification is that we will share in the inheritance of all the saints in light; an inheritance that is unfading as well as guaranteed to be kept for us until we acquire possession of it to the praise of His glory (Ephesians1:14). What a degree of glory that is. Meanwhile don’t lose sight of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Now there’s a thought.

Philippians3:14-16 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature be thus minded; and if in anything you are otherwise minded God will reveal that to you also. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

"Now there’s a thought"

November 09

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