Graduation season is upon us again. Students across the country are moving tassels and receiving their diplomas. Whether it is the final step in education or just the next step, one thing dwelt upon their minds throughout their journey that determined whether they would get to walk across that stage: their grades. Whether the student is cum laude or a student that struggles and passes by the skin of their teeth, the grade is the metric used to determine the honor of receiving a diploma. Truly, the grade does not matter. After graduation, nobody truly cares what grade the student got in terms of the grade. What mattered is how well they know the material and can apply it.
In much the same way, the heart of man can be gauged. It is impossible for a teacher to open the brain of a student and physically measure how much that student has learned. Similarly, as Paul wrote in I Corinthians 2:11, we cannot peer into the soul of a man in measure how much that person is devoted to God: “For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him?”
So, how do we know anything about anybody? How can we trust who is a Christian and who is lying to us? Jesus gives us the insight in the Sermon on the Mount, recorded in Matthew 7:15-20: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, you will recognize them by their fruits.”
Jesus gives us a metric by which we can discover how godly the heart of a man is. You can look at how the person presents themselves through clothing and language. You can look at how the person shows their dedication through attendance and participation in worship. You can look at how the person conducts their lives through their associations and activities. All of these can identify how the heart of a person is oriented, either toward God or toward the world. James 4:4 warns, “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”
Using metrics to measure what is immeasurable does have a drawback, though. Just like pupils in school, there are always methods to cheat. In recent years, AI systems have offloaded learning. Students can demonstrate the correct answer and create good grades without ever demonstrating whether they actually learned the material. It has become an epidemic in academia. Students realize that the grade gives them what they think they want — the diploma and the opportunity to have the job they desire — and they lose sight of what that grade represents, which is the true avenue to what they want. Imagine a student who has used ChatGPT on every paper and exam. They have never had to study or learn any of the things in their classes, and graduate summa cum laude because they could put all the answers down on paper. They get their diploma and get a prestigious job with a prestigious salary. They arrive at their new career and then are judged no longer by grades and tests, but by what they can demonstrate based on actual knowledge.
Paul admonished in Galatians 6:3: “For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.”
Lying to oneself hides the truth. James said to “be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (1:22). There are many who give off the correct “vibe” (to use a colloquial term), but have no real knowledge of God. They come to church regularly. They participate in church activities and events. They avoid evil things. They think they are in love with God, but come to find out they were in love with a carnal falsehood dressed in a Christ-like costume. They use misquoted or out-of-context Scripture to justify their sins. The world helps to mask their iniquity.
Jesus declared, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”
In the analogy, all will graduate and all will be tested in their new work. We will all die and be judged. It is possible to celebrate and cheat our grades all the way through this life, but one day we will be tested. One day the judgement will come and there will be no ChatGPT to save us from the One who can open our hearts and truly measure who we are (Hebrews 4:12-13).
Lance Byers