Are You Known By Your Kindness or Your Qualifications? - iBelieve Truth: A Devotional for Women - July 31, 2025
“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35, NIV).
For the last month, my husband and I have walked through a devastating season. We lost a dear friend to cancer, I was rejected by my seventeenth publisher, and our mold renovation was going to cost triple the amount we originally anticipated. To top it off, I was told that my writing was good, but I still wasn’t experienced or credentialed enough to traditionally publish a book—talk about a slap in the face. And yet, this got me thinking:
Are we known by our kindness or our credentials? Are we known by what we say or what we do? Are we known for who we think we are, or who God says we are? Are we known by our striving or our peace? Are we known by our trust or our doubt? I have to wonder if you’ve wrestled with any similar questions.
Though kindness is one of the fruits of the Spirit, it can also overflow from the others: things like love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness, and self-control all, in a sense, can reflect acts of kindness within us. Bob Goff, author of Love Does, says it this way: “It will be our kindness, not our qualifications, that outlast us.”
Over the last few months, I’ve felt the Lord speaking a compelling message over my heart, and that’s this: “Amber, I have called you to share your message. You may not know what all that will entail, but I’ve called you. I’ve called you, not your credentials.”
Friends, credentials can be an important part of our careers (if God calls you to something that requires them), but your credentials aren’t your identity. Passages like John 1:12, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 1:5, and Galatians 3:28 all point to the true source of our identity. But you know what they don’t say? They don’t say that we need to have a PhD, LPC, or Master's to make a difference.
According to Christ, we’ve been made in His image, regardless of what we do. Genesis 1:27 says it this way: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (ESV). 2 Corinthians 5:17 furthers this point: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (ESV).
In Christ (and not ourselves), we are chosen, loved, and called to excellency (1 Peter 2:9). We aren’t called to prove ourselves or our worth. We aren’t called to question our calling. We aren’t even called to be something we aren’t. But you know what we are called to do? We’re called to be kind and to be known by that kindness. Your kindness will outlast every degree or credential to your name. That doesn’t make it less important; rather, it makes your mission that more crucial.
Whether people know who you are or not, if you’re a Christian, you are created to do good works in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:10). No one can take that away from you, and no one can add anything of eternal value to it. Why? Because Jesus already gave us eternity through His death on the cross.
Jesus didn’t have credentials. He wasn’t known for his PhD or Master's in Theology. And yet, He was closer to God than anyone. Not only that, but God formed Him in His image and sent Him in the form of a lowly, humble servant, born in a stable.
Before He died on the cross, He spent thirty years living life. He was a carpenter by trade, and a son. Still, God called Him to die for us in kindness, perhaps to teach us that we’re not to be known by our qualifications, but by how we treat others and represent the Lord through those actions.
Let's pray:
Dear God, in a world that praises labels and positions, help us to remember that our true identity comes from you alone. When we’re rejected, beaten down, confused, and isolated, help us look to you. The identity you give us, and the kindness we show to others, far surpass any credentials we could ever uphold. So let us be known not by what we do, Lord, but to whom we belong, and whose we are. We love, praise, and thank you, Jesus. Amen.
Agape, Amber
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/SDI Productions
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Today we're doing something a little different. Instead of going deep in a passage, we're talking about what to do when deep feels like too much — when you need less, not more. Specifically, I'm walking you through one of my favorite practices for weary seasons: handwriting scripture.
Not typing it. Not scrolling past it. Actually writing it out, slowly, in your own hand — because something happens in your brain when you do that. The words land differently. They go deeper. And over time, they become part of that personal library of God's voice that the Holy Spirit can pull from when you need it most. That's what Psalm 119:11 means when it says I have hidden your word in my heart — it's scripture moving into your long-term memory, where it lives and stays even when you haven't opened your Bible in weeks.
I'm sharing the five verses I wrote out for myself today — and why each one hit me fresh even though I've known some of them for years. This episode is part of our How to Study the Bible Podcast, a show that brings life back to reading the Bible and helps you understand even the hardest parts of Scripture. If this episode helps you know and love God more, be sure to follow the How to Study the Bible Podcast on Apple or Spotify so you never miss an episode!
