It's All in Who You Know

Most people don't like "the good ol' boys" network. How can it be fair for someone to get promoted or get a raise based not upon their performance but just because the boss knows and likes them?!

It's NOT fair! Advancement by relationship is WAY BETTER than only fair! It's God's way. He gives the ultimate advancement to His really good friends. "You are the only true God. If they KNOW You, and Jesus Christ whom you sent, they will live for ever." (John 17:3, Worldwide English) That's Salvation by Who-You-Know.

Only God's gigantic heart has an out-flow that can over-flood our unworthiness and make heaven an un-earned gift. "This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: My LOVE for Mount Zion is passionate and strong; I am consumed with passion for Jerusalem!" (Zechariah 8:2, New Living Translation)

Nobody has enough personal merit to deserve eternal life. "No one is made right with God by following the Law. It is TRUSTING in Jesus Christ that makes a person right with God." (Galatians 2:16, Easy-to-Read Version)

"Knowing, loving, trusting," are the Bible's get-salvation words. All three are relationship words. God's great heart passionately loves us. Being in relationship with Him connects us to Him. Knowing Him, trusting Him, loving Him back creates the two-way flow which overwhelms our sin with His grace.

Salvation by Who-You-Know is an Old Testament truth, too. "Unfailing love and faithfulness make atonement for sin." (Proverbs 16:6, New Living Translation) I checked with the scholars. Super-wise Solo-mon is writing about OUR love making atonement for sin. But notice, to lay hold on God's passionate love and keep a grasp on His atoning grace, loving Him back must be continuing, "unfailing," "faithful." That's a God-and-Me relationship. That's Salvation by Who-You-Know.

Undergrad School of Religion students preparing to be pastors are required to take one basic business course which equips them to read finance reports and understand what their Church Treasurers are doing. The semester I took General Accounting, a new Assistant Professor of Business Administration joined the faculty. Mr. Bainum was young, single, and played A-League intramural basketball with the best players in the school. I liked him. I studied. I turned in assignments, took quizzes, didn't miss a class session, but was still struggling to pass as the semester ebbed. Mr. Bainum noticed. With the Semester exam looming, he invited me and another Theology Major in the same dilemma up to Mr. Bainum's home for an intensive study session. The young prof had an awful cold. While we pored over his study sheets trying for a breakthrough in differentiating between debits and credits, kleenexes piled up along his dining room baseboard. We were all giving the problem our best effort. Only the posting of final grades would reveal whether it had been enough. Running my finger down the grade list where my dignity was protected by a student number, I blinked at the worst grade I would earn from First Grade through two Masters degrees. But, I PASSED!! Most people say, "You only passed because you were friends with the teacher." I say, "You're right! It's all in all in Who you know!"

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Your friend and HIS,

Dave