Klout™, Kred™ or Christ

Scoring services

If you’ve not spent much time online you have likely not heard of the services called Klout or Kred. In case you don’t know what these are, they are services that score people in social media who use Twitter, Facebook, write blogs and use other elements of social media. This serves as a kind of social media “status” or “ranking.” These scores are calculated by the respective companies, and there is seemingly no direct way to have input to what your score is. There is no one thing that you can do to boost your score. It is never made entirely clear how these numbers are determined, but that’s not what’s important here. These numbers have become of some value in people’s perception of others, their perception of themselves, and for some, and their sense of self–worth. It is worth noting that there have been a few companies that have tried tying the Klout scores to their hiring process.

Epistle of James

I have recently taught a class on the Book of James (see links below) and I wanted to share a thought or two about it. One of the first things that James does in his book, which is actually a letter, is to identify himself. He says, “I am James, a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” In case you don’t know who James is, he is the brother of Christ. Actually he is Jesus’ half-brother because Joseph is his father and not God. Well God is his father, but not like that!

James didn’t believe that his brother Jesus was the “The Christ,” “The Second Coming” or “The Messiah” while he was alive. He believed later when their paths crossed after the Resurrection. But isn’t that how most of us are with the people that we know well? We tend not to think too much of them or give them any real respect, because we knew them “when.” Our reasoning tends to go something like this: Since you were such a goof-off and a screw-up back “then,” how can you possibly be a prophet of God now? Or in James case, “How can you be God himself? Be-for-real-and-get-over-yourself-please!”

James now knows and believes. But what I really want you to see is that James doesn’t use his physical relationship with Christ to support any of his claims, stake his reputation or establish his credibility. He doesn’t use the fact that they both sprang from the same womb to bring himself acclaim or notoriety.

He doesn’t use Christ’ credibility or “approval rating” to boost his own. He’s not walking around with a big “J” on his shirt or a sign on his head saying “I know WJWD!” No, it is his faith and his service that makes him reliable and dependable. It is James’ service to God and the people of God that makes James a force to be reckoned with! His credibility is based on DOING and not just being!

The same holds true for us. We become trustworthy by being in faithful relationship with people and in circumstances and situations in which trust is built up over time.

James is saying that his credibility doesn’t come from services like Klout or Kred or even the fact that Jesus was his brother. It comes from God.

So what?

So what’s the application? What I want you to do is stop and think for a few moments, or over the next few days: