LET EXCELLENCE BE YOUR GOAL
REV. EKOW ESHUN.
SCRIPTURE: MARK 7:37
(NKJV)
”He has done all things well.
Today’s verse presents a powerful and motivating challenge we have from the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. Clearly, this speaks of a spirit of excellence evident in his life and ministry. Excellence means a state of high or exceptional quality. To excel means, to do better than expected or to exceed expectations. Remember that since our Father desires for us to grow up into the fulness and stature of Christ Jesus, excellence must be your standard and motivation as a child of God.
For the Lord Jesus to have done all things well means that, in the first place, he was busy doing something. It is important, therefore, to make it your goal that in whatever you have to do, you will do it well and to the best of your ability. And if you are going to do whatever you do well, it is going to take practice and constant improvement. Constant practise and improvement, therefore, are two important and practical pathways to excellence.
This must be a daily or regular matter. Why? Because you cannot grow or improve in any area of your life until you make it part of your daily schedule and your daily habits. So, practically speaking, there can be no excellence without the discipline of daily or regular practise. This is true of every area of our lives. Whether it’s in the workplace, in your marriage, in personal prayer, bible study, relationships or serving in your church, only regular practise and constant improvement will bring excellence.
Excellence, therefore, is a result of little improvements, day by day, as you do what you have to with the goal of producing something of exceptional quality. This explains why excellence does not come easily or cheaply. It comes with a price of daily discipline involving your goals and your habits that must be paid regularly, with the help of the Holy Spirit.
When God wanted Joshua to take on a leadership role after Moses death, God emphasized the importance of the daily discipline in the application of his Word as stated in Joshua 1 : 8; ”This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success.” (AMPL)
Whether you will improve constantly and excel in all you do or not will depend a lot on your daily habits and your devotion to them. Take a cue from what God told Joshua and also from the testimony of Jesus Christ’s ministry. You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.
PRAYER
I thank you, Father, for the inspiration and challenge the life and testimony of my Lord Jesus gives me. As the author and finisher of my faith, I am enthused to follow Jesus’ example and to aspire to excellence in all I do. With thanksgiving, I acknowledge the strength of the Holy Spirit to do more exploits in Jesus’s name, Amen.
FURTHER READING (NKJV)
2 PETER 1:1-7
[1]Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
[2]Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,
[3]as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,
[4]by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
[5]But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge,
[6]to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness,
[7]to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.