I am His

Excellence......... Achievement.............winning...........The Best............on top...........Highest score.......

These words and many more, just like these, are words I have been wrestling with and thinking about. What does it mean to be excellent at something. How can I rate myself and should I even bother? Does it matter? What if I am mediocre after all and nothing I do is every really excellent or the very, best of all?

The internet is literally full of ideas on excellence and achievement. We seem to live in at a time in history, when what matters most is -How well we do , How much we achieve and the measure of our achievements seems to be stuff. In other words the amount of things we accumulate, especially expensive things like houses full of lavish furniture and fancy cars and great schools etc, seems to be the outward mark of success.

Here are some quotes I found on excellence.....

" The noblest search is the search for excellence". L.B. Johnson

or

" Strive for perfection in everything. Take the best that exists and make it better. If it does not exist, create it. Accept nothing nearly right or good enough" - Henry Royce

I think these two quotes capture the heart of the striving of modern western mankind and we, because of where and when we live , are sucked into the vortex of excellence and striving and achieving that which is excellent. We are driven to be the very best and we aim to stand up above all other human beings so that we can be seen and recognised as the best.

While I think it is good to work hard and to use the gifts we have been given and do our very personal best, I am left wondering if the "striving for perfection in everything" is at a great cost. I am left to wonder at whether this message of making that which exist even better and always doing more and achieving more is indeed a worthy goal at all.

I wonder what God thinks of all this?

From my own personal experience, my own striving for perfection have generally come up empty handed in some way or another.It is incredibly difficult to maintain some level of perfect performance. It is quite frankly exhausting. So while I think it is good to do my best and use the gifts God has given me to do the best I can in any given situation , it seems and is tough.

Striving and working well towards a goal is indeed a good thing and in itself the accomplishment of a goal is a good thing too. Yet I find my myself pondering how all this striving for achievement is somehow not linked to our deep desire to be recognised and seen somehow as significant. Perhaps we desire so much to be admired or seen as excellent at something or another because deep down we long to " leave our mark" in this world. We long for our life to have meaning and so we make meaning in a way and that meaning is all wrapped up in achievement and perfection and doing well in this life.

"The secret of joy is contained in one word- excellence" - P.S.Buck

This quote says a great deal about where the heart finds joy but the big question flowing from this kind of idea is this; What if all I do is not excellent. What if all I do is simply "good enough" or just "OK" even mediocre? What does that say about my joy or my happiness or my value in this world.

The shifting standard of the worlds ideas on excellence and perfection and beauty and all the grand ideas are very difficult for most people to reach. In some areas we may succeed and in some areas few succeed. These are the hero's of the day paraded for us in Television and in magazines and newspapers. I think " good for them" and well done for and excellent performance. But most of us will not achieve these kinds of goals in life. I also wonder what personal or family sacrifices they had to make and at what cost did all the fame come at.

God has some very radical things to say about perfection. In stark contrast to the world and its standard of what is excellent, God has some very thought provoking things to say.

"You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Matthew 5.48

Well, that lifted the standard and shifted the bar somewhat? So I am no longer to look to the worlds stand of perfection but God my Father who is perfect in every way must be my measure.

This is a great place to start. So I am to stop comparing myself to what the world around me says is the measure of excellence and I am to be perfect like God. Wow!! This is talking about moral purity and perfection and not our ward achievements but I think the two are linked in a way. I say this because the inner character of a person; who he or she really is morally will flow out in how he or she operates in life and sets about achieving and working out his/ her life. In other words the way we live our life is linked to the understanding we have about how we work as moral beings.
This verse also tells me what is important to God. God is interested in my character and my moral status . He is interested in what I think and how I speak and how I treat others . He is interested in what I do with my time, money, gifts and all that I am. He wants me to shift the standard of life from the world and lift it way way up. All the way up to HIM.

And so I find that the things that the world we live finds important and essential to what would be a great and excellent life are not how God measures. God values the things in my life in a very different way.

" Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own." Philippians 3:1

I just love this verse. It speaks about working hard - pressing on - never giving up - keeping on. The life of the Christian is all about pressing on. We are to leave what is behind us in the past and we are to persevere in this life. We are to work hard at keeping on the right pathway, that is God's way of living life which is found in the bible. The motivation is plain to see in this quote. Why do we press on? Well because Jesus has made us his own. How amazing. The God of the universe has made us the creature his own. We belong to him and so have enormous value and significance. We are his. If we rest in this valuable position we no longer need to look for our significance from others. We can stand in this precious position of value and love and a real belonging and we can shine for God. His opinion matters not man.

"But godliness with contentment is great gain" 1 Timothy 6:6

So to end end off I would like to focus on one of the key christian truths which help us to live well for God in this world. Thinking about and working towards practicing being satisfied , not only in our heads but in our hearts too is a key. If we ask God to give us this gift we will be living a life full of greatness and peace. Peace with him and peace about the gifts and achievements we may have or may indeed not have. We will be free to live a truly full life; full of passion and love for God and others in which we live with deep satisfaction with that which we have in every area of life.

There is so much more to be said about all this but I will stop here for now. In chatting to a special friend about all these issues we both decided that we would encourage each other that to remember that our value and significance is found in God - in Jesus Christ. So when our works look mediocre in this world and fall way short of the outward achievement standards set bu the world we live in, we remind ourselves to percervere in the way of life that God has placed his stamp of approval on. He loves us and approves of us if we are his. So rest if you are weary dear brother or sister in the Lord and take heart.