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” 2nd
Corinthians 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 1st 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 (1st
Thessalonians 3:12, 1st 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” (1st 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 (1st
Thessalonians 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
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