“The godly give good advice to their friends…”

I was sitting in an Admiral’s Club in Tampa at the end of last week and behind me a Head of HR for an international company (I know that because she told the person she was talking to on the phone her name and job title) was providing a reference check on a former employee of hers.  She was beyond effusive with her accolades and endorsements.  But, as I listened, having also have provided maybe a hundred plus  (yes, I think so) reference checks over my life, was that she did a great job helping the person get the job, but she didn’t do any favors on helping the person be successful in the new job.  I know the feeling.  We have a couple of areas and ideas that we want to let the new employer know that if they want to be sure to help their new employee reach their full potential they need to know and understand, but we are afraid to say any of these things for fear of having the reference checker mark them down as a weakness that might disqualify them from the job.  What we need to ask those who do our reference checking for us is to ask the question differently and ask it every time: “As we build out a development plan to assure (fill in the person’s name) what are three things you’d suggest we include in that plan?”  Try it.  It works.

If God was doing a reference check on us today, what would He hear from our family, friends and co-workers?  If God was to ask the question to them on what we should be focusing on to grow and develop ourselves to become closer to Him, what would they say?  What I always find when I do a reference check on someone, is that each person has many blind spots and unless someone helps them see them, they don’t know they are there. So, it wouldn’t hurt for us be sure and ask others who share our faith to help us know where we need to develop and grow.

Reference: Proverbs 12:26 (New Living Translation)