Strive For Excellence (4)

We are still highlighting important points concerning striving for excellence in our lives. To recap, the previous points have been:

a.     Striving for excellence is not a desire for superiority over others

b.   While striving for excellence, have a disposition that views excellence as a direction and not a final destination

              This week we will go on to another crucial point in striving for excellence.

c.       Striving for excellence for God’s people should be done with a realization that we have a divine seed of excellence

In the previous post, I referred to Joseph and Daniel as examples of people of God who had outstanding success in secular societies as a product of their commitment to excellence. Another striking and instructive thing about Joseph and Daniel was that they recognized that God had given them special abilities which they leveraged on in their respective paths to greatness. Each of these men had an understanding that there was some divine enablement they possessed. They had a sense of the reality of supernatural resources that God had made available to them. This was the springboard from which they launched their pursuits.

In fact, after a while this was even evident to other people around them.

“So Pharaoh asked his officials, ‘Can we find anyone else like this man so obviously filled with the spirit of God?’” Genesis 41:38 New Living Translation

“Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him…” Daniel 6:3 King James Version

King Nebuchadnezzar spoke of Daniel as one who had “the spirits of the holy gods” (see Daniel 4:8, 18). The King perhaps did not understand the character and personality of our Almighty God so he could spoke within the context of the polytheistic beliefs of the pagan culture in which he lived but he obviously recognized that there was something unique about Daniel.

You may be reading this and thinking “Wow, I would like to be like Joseph or Daniel”. Well, I have great news for you if you are a believer in Christ Jesus: God has placed His seed of excellence in every single person who is born again. God has given you a unique superlative advantage. You have a divine seed of excellence.

“Since you have been born again-not of perishable seed but of imperishable-through the living and enduring word of God” 1^st Peter 1:23 Holman Christian Standard Bible

1^stJohn 3:9 talks about God’s seed abiding in every one who is born of God. Think about it for just a moment: God’s seed is in you! That must be something really wonderful and life changing. It’s something akin to genes and DNA as we know in our biological sciences. God has implanted His imperishable seed of divine life in us. This is what I mean by God’s seed of excellence.

Ephesians 2:10, 1^st Peter 2:9 and James 1:18 also describe believers in Christ as people in whom God has chosen to display His excellence, wisdom and glory. God would only be able do this if He provides the resources to help us accomplish His purpose for us and this is exactly what He has done. God has made supernatural resources available to us (as He did for Joseph and Daniel) in His glorious grace so we really do not have an excuse.

“His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness” 2^nd Peter 1:3 Holman Christian Standard Bible

As a believer in Christ, you should know that there is something different about you. The springboard from which you should reach for excellence is an understanding that God has already placed His seed of excellence in you. You have a divine enablement that should propel you in your pursuits in life. Go ahead and give expression to God’s seed of excellence in you. I say to you just as Paul wrote to the Corinthians and Thessalonians, “Go ahead and excel!”

To be continued…

Strive For Excellence 3

In the last 2 weeks, we have been considering biblical perspectives of striving for excellence. This week, we will look at one further point under this important subject.

2. While striving for excellence, have a disposition that views excellence as a direction and not a final destination.

I sometimes meet people who behave like there is nothing better they could aspire for. In colloquial terms, they believe they have “arrived”. Perhaps they have achieved some “success” in some way and so they settle in as if they are at a final destination without recognizing that there is more that God would want them to abound in. Contrary to this view, the Holy Scriptures paint a different picture to us as lucidly expressed by the Apostle Paul:

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me…one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on…” Philippians 3:12-14 New International Version

This means that while we are on this side of eternity, our perspective ought to be one of desiring to be better.

Again, it is understandable that all of us desire success, we all want to be successful in our different endeavors and quite often, we are only fully focused on striving for success. However, the biblical perspective for life is one in which we are enjoined to focus on excellence which then brings success. To say this in a different way, we ought to focus on the process to be assured of the right product.

This is the point made in Proverbs 22:29

“Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will stand in the presence of kings. He will not stand in the presence of unknown men.” Holman Christian Standard Bible

The implication of this proverb is that anyone who desires to stand in the presence of kings should strive to become skilled in his work. So dear friends, rather than focus on success and promotion, focus on excellence. When we strive for excellence, success and promotion are inevitable. It would only be a matter of time.

I have studied the lives of some interesting characters in the Old Testament. Joseph and Daniel for example stand out as men of faith who were successful in pagan societies. What I have found very striking is that these 2 men did not display any “crazy” pursuit of success but they were focused on excellence. It was their excellence that brought them success.

So remember, you have not “arrived”. You are not at your final destination yet. Focus on the process (excellence) and then the product (success) is assured. Go on striving for excellence and God will bless the endeavor with success.

To be continued…

                                               

Strive For Excellence (2)

We established last week that whatever stage we are in life, God’s desire is for us to excel. This week, I want us to begin to consider some important points on the subject of excellence.

1. Striving for excellence is not a desire for superiority over others

Generally, the world defines excellence with terms that imply competition with others. Most people only think of excellence in the context of comparing themselves with other people. In fact, the dictionary synonyms for excellence are words like “surpass”, “transcend” and “outdo”-words that are usually associated with some kind of competition.

We often find people trapped in this snare of doing all they can simply to outdo others. With the advent of the social media, it has become even much easier for people to follow trends, observe the patterns and events in the lives of their contemporaries and then attempt to either achieve the same things or aim to “surpass” other people in the name of excellence.

It is important to point out that living our lives constantly comparing ourselves with others is described in the Bible as a demonstration of a lack of understanding:

“For we don’t dare classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. But in measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves to themselves, they lack understanding” 2^ndCorinthians 10:12

Other people’s lives may serve as an encouragement to us and their pattern of life or achievements may spur us on but they should not be our standard of comparison. Our standard as we desire and strive to excel, actually, is Christ Jesus. This is the point Paul made in 1^st Corinthians 11:1:

“Imitate me, as I also imitate Christ”

The same point is echoed in Hebrews 12:1 & 2:

“…let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus…”

Furthermore, as I pointed out in the last post, the word used in the Greek New Testament for “excel” does not connote or imply any competition with other people. As you will recall, I referred to Paul’s epistle to the Thessalonians twice (1^stThessalonians 3:12, 1^st Thessalonians 4:1). In those verses, Paul was praying for and calling the Thessalonian believers to excel. The interesting thing is that the Thessalonian Christians had earlier been described in the same epistle as “a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia” (1^st Thessalonians 1:7). This could have suggested to them that they were probably “better” or “superior” to some other believers but God clearly communicated His desire for them to excel. They had been commended for their work of faith, labour of love and patience of hope among other things (1^stThessalonians 1:3) and yet Paul prayed that for them to excel even more!

The biblical perspective of striving for excellence is different from the secular perspective. It is not about competing with other people. It is about being the best that God has called us to be utilizing all that God has given us. Like one of my friends wrote recently on her blog “Every day, I am more and more driven to be better. To do better. To make sure I am striving to the best of my ability to harness the entirety of my God-given potential. I want to die knowing that I emptied myself of all I was capable of achieving within the time I was in this realm…”1

Never be satisfied because you appear to be better than others. Don’t settle for the status quo or set the bar so low when God wants you to abound much more. Go on friends and strive to be the best that God has called you to be. Go on and excel!

To be continued…

Scripture quotations are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

Notes:

1. Ololade Ajekigbe, "Eat. Breathe. Love" www.lolosthoughts.com/Eat-Breathe-Love