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"If God Wrote Your Resume,
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Dr. Clyde Gilman pastored for many years at Bella Vista Baptist Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico and was beloved by preachers and people all over the nation. He graduated to glory in June of 2018.
“And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.” (Job 2:3) If God wrote your resume, would you be able to get a job? Would anybody hire you? A resume is a summary of one’s life. It’s a summary of the work history of a person. It is a summary of a person’s education. A resume is a summary of work habits and stability and integrity. A resume tells all they can about that individual. Nowadays when a church is looking for a pastor, they ask for resumes. I’m okay with that. In the old days, they didn’t have resumes, so it was a little bit different. In 1972, I candidated for a church in Denver, Colorado. They didn’t ask for a resume. They had the entire congregation interrogate me for two and a half hours. They stood me right down here in front and they all sat out there. There was one deacon in the church and he led it. He just opened it up and for two and a half hours, they interrogated me. Afterwards, the deacon got up and said, “Well, I think that will about do it. It looks like, Brother Gilman, that you are only weak in a couple areas.” I had never really considered myself weak. He said, “You are weak in a couple areas. Number one, you believe in a little bit of makeup on women, so you’re a little weak there.” Then he said, “You also believe in celebrating Christmas. That makes you a little weak.” The church called me and we had a good ministry there for five months. I started pastoring in 1967. I’ve been pastoring for 45 years, but I was a young pastor, 26 years old, I candidated for a church in Joplin, Missouri. After I preached that night, the pulpit committee took me back in the room and began to interrogate me. One of the men on the pulpit committee was an ordained deacon for life and I didn’t know that. He said to me, “What do you think about ordained deacons for life?” I said, “I don’t even like deacons.” That’s not so, because I do now. Back then I was 26 years old. I didn’t know anything about deacons except what I had heard about preachers and what they had gone through and what they thought about their deacons. I said, “I don’t even like deacons.” Needless to say they didn’t call me to that church! In 1980, I went to Bella Vista Baptist Church. The former pastor there started the church 19 years before and was getting out of the ministry. He was a good friend of mine. He was a great preacher and kind of a militant type leader. He and I had talked about this. I was sitting in that church on a Wednesday night. He got up and said, “Okay, folks, Brother Gilman is your new pastor.” He didn’t even ask them to vote. He said, “Why vote on what God’s done?” I don’t really recommend this, I’m just telling you what he did. He said, “Why vote on what God has already done? Brother Gilman is your new pastor.” Through these 32 years, there have been many times when I told them, “You can’t vote me out. You didn’t vote me in.” But usually when a church needs a pastor or a company needs an employee, they will ask for a resume. When it comes to resumes, some folks do their own. Sometimes they’ll ask somebody else, a friend, to help them make their resume. Sometimes it might be a little bit dangerous asking a friend, because they may beef it up for you just a little bit, where it’s not quite 100% honest. When it comes to God writing your resume, He doesn’t beef it up. God’s word is 100% truth all the time about every subject. I want you to know that God wrote Job’s resume here in these two verses. When He wrote Job’s resume, this is what God said about Job. This is not Job saying this. This is not Job writing his resume, describing himself. This is God writing Job’s resume. The first thing God said is, “...Hast thou considered my servant...” On the plane yesterday flying to this meeting, I had that issue of Revival Fires! that is laying in the pew right there, and I read Brother Anglea’s message on Moses, the Servant of God. Eighteen times He said in that Book there it talks about Moses being the servant of God. I preached on that subject before, but nothing like that. God said about Job, “He is My servant.” Some people might say, “Well, preacher, I attend church.” Yes, but are you the servant of God? “Well, preacher, I sing in the choir.” That’s good, but are you the servant of God? “Well, preacher, I pay my tithe.” That’s good, too, but are you the servant of God? “Preacher, wait a minute. I’m a fundamental Baptist.” But are you the servant of God? “I’m separated from the world.” So were the Pharisees, but they weren’t the servants of God. I’m for all of those things, but are you God’s servant? Somebody might say, “I’m a King James Version only believer and that ought to settle it.” That’s good, but are you the servant of God? “I pray every day.” Yes, that’s good, but are you the servant of God? Better yet, would God call you His servant? “Well, I teach a Sunday school class.” That’s good, too, but are you a servant of God. God said about Job, “He’s My servant.” He is writing Job’s resume. Job’s life demonstrated the attitude and activity of a servant to the Lord, not just outwardly to impress people, but in a sincerity that God recognized. God described Job as His own servant. Then He said, “...there is none like him in the earth,...” That’s what God said about Job. God said, “You can look all over the world and talk to everybody on the planet and you won’t find anybody alive, not even one, who is like Job.” God said, “There is not another Job. There is none like him. He is one of a kind.” God said also that Job is perfect. Perfect means not defective. It means complete. It means nothing lacking, nothing wanting. God said about this man, “He is My servant. There is none like him, and he is a perfect man. He is everything I want him to be.” Then God said that Job is an upright man. Upright means not deviating from right. It means walking in paths of righteousness, doing right, being honest, standing for right. That’s what God said about Job. Then He said, “He feareth God.” I think there are a bunch of folks who are lacking when it comes to being God-fearing Christians. Then He said, “He escheweth evil,” which means to flee from or to shun or to avoid. God said, “I like Job because he escheweth evil. He goes the long way around evil. He gets as far away from it as he can.” In our day and time, some folks get just as close as they can. They make lots of excuses for living as close to sin and worldliness as they can get. God said that Job shuns it. He flees from it. He gets just as far as he can from it. He escheweth evil. Then God said in verse three in chapter two, that he had integrity. In chapter one, God did not mention integrity, but when it come to chapter 2:3 He said the same thing, but then He added integrity. It sort of seems to me like integrity was summing it all up. God said that he had integrity. Integrity means wholeness. It means to be entire. My definition of integrity is to be intact. Did you ever hear somebody say about somebody, “Boy, they’ve got it all together.” What they are saying, when it comes to spirituality, they’ve got it all together. They’ve got integrity. It means an unbroken state. When Jesus said to Simon Peter, “...Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:” (Luke 22:31) To sift means to divide. He said, “Satan wants to get your integrity. He wants to divide you.” Integrity means not divided. It means an unbroken state. If you have integrity and adversity shows up, integrity will win and stay strong. I preached a message one time on the subject, “When Adversity Meets Integrity.” When adversity meets integrity, adversity will lose. When adversity meets integrity, integrity will win. If adversity shows up and there is no integrity, adversity will win. Adversity showed up for Job in four ways. All four of those ways were losses. Adversity showed up in Job’s life. The first way it showed up was in a loss of substance, a loss of gain, money, a loss of material things. Job was the greatest man of the east and had great wealth. On that sad day in his life, financially, Job went from the top to the bottom in a moment’s time. For a lot of us, that would pretty much do us in, finish us off. If we’ve got some walking around money in our pocket, we are a spiritual Christian, but let financial reversal move in, and suddenly we are not very spiritual anymore. This man, Job, lost everything financially. He went from the top to the bottom. But take a look at what he said: “I came into the world naked, with nothing. It looks like I’m going to leave that way, too. Blessed be the name of God.” He did not allow it to affect him when he went from the top to the bottom. How many folks today if they lose their job, does it affect them spiritually? Oh yes, it takes its toll on you, but do you just keep on going for God? Do you just keep on walking with God and do you pray about it? Of course, I’m telling you for Job it was a huge loss of finances, but that adversity didn’t win. The second loss was the loss of 10 children. Job lost 10 kids, went out and dug 10 graves. There weren’t many servants left to help, just one servant from each part of his place. He buried 10 kids, had 10 funerals. I cannot begin to imagine the pain and devastation. First when adversity showed up there was a loss of finances, and then a loss of family members. He lost 10 kids. You can lose kids in two ways. You can lose kids in death, and you can lose them to the far country. Sometimes losing them to the far country is like a death that takes place again every day. A loss of kids. The third way that adversity showed up was in a loss of health. Job was smote from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet with boils and was sitting out there on the ash heap scraping himself and in great pain. From what I can see in the Bible, that didn’t turn around overnight. I think he was sick and suffering for a long time. He had a loss of finances, a loss of family members, and a loss of his health. The fourth loss, when adversity showed up, was a loss of unity between himself and his wife. It seems that for a little while they were not on the same page. Wait a minute, ladies. When your husband goes through it, you go through it too. Sir, when your wife goes through it, you go through it too. My wife suffered for many months, pain every day. We went everywhere trying to find some answers. Sometimes she would sit there and just cry and look to me for some help. I’d tell her, “Honey, I love you. I wish I could change this. I wish I could do something about this,” and try to encourage her. Job’s wife got on a different page. All of a sudden when things got so bad, finally she said to him, “Why don’t you curse God and die? Do you still retain your integrity?” Hey, gentlemen, if your wife says you’ve got integrity, then you’ve got it! If God says you’ve got it, you’ve got it. God and your wife know the truth about you. She said, “Are you still going to hold on to your integrity? Why don’t you curse God and die?” There was a loss of unity in the home, in the marriage between the husband and the wife. I heard about a husband and wife that were traveling. They were driving along the road and they got to fussing. They were just going after it in the car, just fussing and picking at one another and slandering one another going down the road. Finally both of them at the same time decided to give the other one the silent treatment. Have you ever had one of those? They decided to give each other the silent treatment and both of them quit talking to the other. They are driving along there in silence. After going for a little while that way, they both looked out in the pasture and out in the pasture was a donkey, a hog, a goat, and a skunk. The husband finally spoke up and asked the wife, “Relatives of yours?” She decided to speak, too. She said, “Yes. They are my in-laws.” Sometimes there is a loss of unity in a marriage. Job experienced that. When God wrote Job’s resume He listed all those things, and then over in the New Testament God said in the book of James that Job had patience. Patience means to endure under pressure, to remain under pressure. Over in the New Testament it says, “...Ye have heard of the patience of Job,...” We read and study Job and we find that exactly, that he remained under pressure, with patience. Job had patience. He remained or maintained under pressure. Joseph had patience. Joseph remained under pressure for years. Daniel remained under pressure. The Apostle Paul remained under great pressure and got the job done for God. We read of Christians throughout history, like in Foxes Book of Martyrs, we read about those that were burned at the stake. Some of them did not even require to be tied there. They just stood there and were burned at the stake. Mister, that’s called remaining under pressure! That’s called patience! God wrote Job’s resume and that’s what He said. Patience will cause you to keep on keeping on. If you don’t have some patience, you’ll quit. When adversity shows up, if you don’t have some patience, you are going to throw in the towel. Patience and integrity will cause you to keep on keeping on. Someone said it this way one time. “I dreamed many a dream that never came true. I’ve seen them vanish at dawn; But I’ve realized enough of my dreams to come true To make me keep on dreaming on. I’ve prayed many a prayer when no answer came, Though I waited patient and long, But answers have come to enough of my prayers To make me keep on praying on. I’ve trusted many a friend that failed me And left me to weep all alone, But I found enough of my friends to be true To make me keep on trusting on. I’ve sown many a seed by the wayside For the birds to all feed upon, But I’ve held enough golden sheaves in my hand To make me keep on sowing on. I’ve drank the cup of disappointment and pain; I’ve gone many days without a song, But I’ve sipped enough nectar from the roses of life To make me keep on keeping on.” Patience and integrity will cause you to keep on keeping on. Friend, if God wrote your resume, what would He say? This is what He said in the Bible about others. He said about Abraham, “He’s My friend.” I’d hire somebody like that! If I was looking for somebody to hire and God said, “He’s My friend,” I’d hire him. God’s friend. What would God say about you and me? God said about Moses, “The meekest man in all the earth, the most submissive man.” God said that in the Book. Then God wrote Moses’ obituary after he died. He started off saying, “Moses, My servant is dead.” My servant. He wrote the obituary for Moses. Would that be enough when you die, if they just were able to truthfully put on your tombstone, “The servant of God”? Would that be enough? If somebody walked by and looked on your tombstone and it just said, “A servant of God,” that would be enough. God writes obituaries as well as resumes. He wrote the obituary of the old world in Romans chapter one. After it was all over He said, “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” (Romans 1:21) God said about Daniel, that he purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king’s meat. Then you study and read the book of Daniel and you’ll find over and over it talks about Daniel being a man with an excellent spirit. It talks about Daniel greatly beloved. That’s what God said about Daniel. John the Baptist, Jesus said about John the Baptist, “Of all of the men that have ever been born of woman, everybody in the world, none is greater than John.” I’d hire a guy like that. I like that. I’m not sure I want John the Baptist working for me. I’d probably have a small church, but he drew large crowds. He didn’t baptize everybody. Then of course, God the Father saying about His Son; He looked down and watched the baptism of Jesus and said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” I’d hire somebody that God was well pleased with. If I was hiring someone and I got a reference and I called that reference and said, “Tell me about them.” If they said, “I was well pleased when they worked for me.” Could you put God down as a reference? Is He pleased with you and your work and your life? Check with God. Sometimes through the years I’ve had some people that worked for me, and when they left they put me down for a reference. I had a business call me from out of state one time and wanted to know if this lady had worked for me. I said, “Yes.” Their first question was, “Would you hire her again?” I said, “Absolutely not.” You ought to be careful who you put down for a reference. If you made havoc of the place you were before and complained and murmured and griped and gossiped and split things, you ought not put me down for a reference. What would God write about you? I talked about Abraham, Moses, Daniel, Paul and Jesus. What would He say about us? If God wrote your resume, would He say that you were a strong Christian? Or would He say, “Weak?” We have an anemic Christianity today, sick and weak. If God wrote your resume, would He say you were strong? Would He count you to be faithful? Paul could say, “He counted me faithful.” Do you know why God called you into the ministry? He counted you faithful. What would God say? Would He say that you were faithful? Would He say, “He is my servant?” “She is my servant?” If God wrote your resume, would He put down that you are honest or deceitful? What would God say? “He’s honest. He’s got integrity. You can count on him. He’s dependable.” If God wrote your resume, would He say that you are a faithful witness? From what I’ve heard from Brother Darrell Cox preaching and what little I know about him I think that God, on his resume, might say, “He is a faithful witness.” Don’t you think that sometimes we fail? Don’t you think that sometimes we let some opportunities slip through the cracks? Don’t you think that sometimes we knew we ought to say something, but we pass on by? If God wrote your resume, would He say that you are a faithful witness? If God wrote your resume, would He say you have integrity? He said that about Job. “He is still holding on to his integrity. He’s got it in a firm grip.” If God wrote your resume, would He say you had integrity? If God wrote your resume, would He say, “He is a hypocrite?” Jesus looked right into the face of the Pharisees and said, “You are a bunch of hypocrites.” He said, “You make people two-fold more the child of Hell than yourselves.” Jesus wrote their resume, and it was not positive. If God wrote your resume, would He say that you are a man of principle, that you are a man of character, or that you have no character? Maybe I can sum it all up this way. We ought to make it easy for God to write our resume. Sometimes folks have asked me to help them on a resume and it can make things a little bit awkward sometimes. Sometimes folks have asked me to preach a funeral for somebody and it was hard to say anything good. We ought to make it easy. We ought to so live in such a way that we’d make it easy for God to write our resume. Friend, let me ask you this. If God wrote your resume today, could you get a job? |
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