Certificate of Excellence
Before I go on a business trip or on vacation, the first thing that I normally do is start looking online at reviews of restaurants and things to do in the city that I will be visiting. Some people sort by least expensive when doing this, others most expensive. I go straight for the reviews! Whatever has the highest rating and most customer reviews is a place that I am interested in.One of my favorite travel review websites has an award called a "Certificate of Excellence". As soon as I see this award, I know this is somewhere that I want to be! I took the time to see what this website requires for a venue to qualify for this certificate, and it's very simple. They just use the definition of excellence: the quality of being outstanding or extremely good. The best of the best are the establishments that have this award.I started thinking of what it means to be excellent in our walk with God. I came up with 4 main points for this that I would like to share on this post today:Excellence is inside each of usThe bible tells us that we have a spirit of excellence inside of us. In Daniel 6:3 the bible says that Daniel was distinguished above all of the others in his position because he had a spirit of excellence on him. We have this same power and same spirit inside of each of us that are living for Jesus! We have to decide to operate in this power that is inside of us.
Related Post: Well Done My Good and Faithful Servant
Remove the idea of perfectionJesus was perfect because we cannot be. In Matthew 25:21, the verse says "Well done good and faithful servant." Notice the wording here is not "perfectly done". Do not allow the idea of perfection to poison your mind because it is unobtainable. We should simply strive to do our best. Ecclesiastes 7:20 says "Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins." Do not chase perfection!Excellence is uniqueReferring back to my example of the travel website with the "certificate of excellence" and they do not award this to you for food if you are not a restaurant, they award you for what you are. The same is true in our walk with God. He is calling each of us to be excellent in our own way. I think of the bible verse Acts 3:6, a beggar that cannot walk asks the apostle Paul for money. Paul responds to this man, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you in the name of Jesus. Walk." - I love this because God had not made Paul excellent in the area of finances, however, he did give him the gift of healing. Whatever unique gift God has given you, use it excellently for His glory.Excellence has one main purposeWe do not strive to be excellent for our own sake but instead to spread love to others. Jesus died for each of us individually because He loved us. Because of this, each of us needs to be excellent in our own unique gifting that God gave us with everyone that we encounter. Never chase perfection, instead, focus on being excellent for God, growing and getting better daily for Him. Our main purpose in life is to grow deeply in love with God, and to let that love overflow to the world around us. Let's all make an effort to do our best to achieve this personal certificate of excellence for God!