it's all about who you know

"It's all about networking.  If you want to get more interviews and have a better chance at a good job, you need to get out there, meet people and in some cases, kiss up to people.  Chels, in the real world it is all about who you know."
The above is a paraphrased conglomeration of all of the things I was repeatedly told my senior year of college.  I was applying for what seemed like a million and one Resident Director positions (in reality it was 26) and was constantly told from mentors, acquaintances and co-workers that I should have gone to more conferences, been in closer contact with the Central Housing Office at Eastern, been in online forums, signed up for different Higher Education associations, so on and so forth; you get the idea.
I hated it.  My blood boiled everytime I thought about the fact that in reality, a lot of times in the job world it is about who you know and not necessarily what you do.  Conversely, though, once you get in that job, it usually quickly becomes about what you do and if you don't perform, you don't last long.  Such is the way of the world.

Anyway, I digress on that front and move to the point of this post.  Many people believe that it is being a good person that matters in this life.  That if we help enough old ladies cross the street, we donate to the local food pantry around Thanksgiving and we buy chickens for a family in Africa that we have lived the good life.  Others of us think that we are too nasty and awful to ever be good enough to be saved and get to Heaven.  What great news that neither of these views are truth.  What beautifully wonderfully refershing news that in this life, it is not about what we do- whether good or bad- it is about who we know. 
It is about us knowing Jesus, truly knowing Him (2 Peter 1:3) in our hearts and believing in the amazing work He did for us (John 3:16).  Of course we will continue to fall and do not what we want to do and ought to do (Romans 7:15).  But thank God for His grace and goodness that covers us always; past, present and future. 
I have never been happier to hear the phrase "It's not about what you do, it's about who you know" as I was this past weekend when Pastor Tim said it during his sermon.  How comforting to know that at the root of who God is, He is cares so much about us that He sent Jesus so we could know Him and live in relationship with Him.

My prayer for everyone, Christian or not, is that we live in that beauty and are more intentional about our relationship with our Maker.