We are still highlighting important points concerning striving for excellence in our lives. To recap, the previous points have been:
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” 1st Peter 1:23 Holman Christian Standard Bible
1stJohn 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, 1st 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” 2nd 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…
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