The Pursuit of Excellence (August 14 - A.M. Service)

"Excellence is a difficult concept to communicate because it can easily be misread as neurotic perfectionism or snooty sophistication.

But it is neither. On the contrary, it is the stuff of which

greatness is made. It is the difference between just getting by and soaring – that which sets apart the significant from

the superficial, the lasting from the temporary.”
Charles Swindoll

A-OK. Blue-Ribbon. Dandy. Fantabulous. First-Class. Five-Star. Gangbusters. Groovy. Jim-Dandy. Nifty. Numero Uno. Peachy Keen. Primo. Stellar. Tip-Top. Top-Shelf. Out of this world.

Quite the list of expressions, isn't it? My challenge for you: try to use all of them at least once in the course of your every day conversations throughout the next week. Your friends will be incredibly impressed and amazed by the extent of your vocabulary . . . or, they'll get a good chuckle out of the absurdity of it - either way, it'll be good times!

Actually, the challenge is a bit more than that. According to Webster, all of those words are simply synonyms for the one word, excellence. Go ahead . . . say that word out loud. "Excellence." Think about it for a moment. Excellence. Officially it's defined simply as "the quality of being excellent." Pretty plain and straightforward definition, isn't it? How would you define it though? Maybe like others, you would think of excellence as "the possession of good qualities in an unusual degree." Maybe you would echo the words of Booker T. Washington who said, "Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way." Maybe you would define it more by what it's not - excellence is not mediocrity, it's not just going along with the status quo, nor is it just doing enough to get by. When Jennifer and I have all our kids out with us, I'll typically give them "a talk" before we exit the van and step out into public. And, though at times the talk may include quite a lengthy description of how much trouble they'll be in and how hard the paddling will be if they misbehave, typically it consists of only four words: "Better than your best!" Maybe like me, that's how you would define excellence - it's the best. It's the best you can be, it's the best you can give, it's the best you can do, it's your best and nothing but your best in any and every situation . . . even, in fact, it's better than your best in all that.

My real challenge for you then is to not just incorporate the synonyms for excellence into your everyday speech . . . but instead to incorporate the qualities of excellence into your everyday life.

Think of it for a moment . . . Excellence in your walk with God? Doesn't that sound, for lack of a better word, excellent? How about in your relationships . . . how about "Excellent" in front of all the titles that you carry: Excellent Husband/Wife, Excellent Father/Mother, Excellent Worker, Excellent Boss, Excellent Friend, Excellent Neighbor, Excellent Customer. You get the picture, right? Wow! what a difference excellence makes! Let's pursue it then . . . with everything and in everything.

1. Remember

In our spiritual lives, our pursuit for excellence will be helped along by pausing to reflect and remember the nature of God. Think about it for a moment . . . He is God. He is the Creator of all the earth - everything in it and on it. He is the Almighty God, He rules and reigns over everything - there is nothing that can stand against Him or stop Him, there is nothing above Him or like Him. Remember . . . He's all wise. He's all knowing. He's all powerful - there's nothing that's impossible or even difficult for Him to do. He is perfect and pure. He is holy, holy, holy. He always and only does right and good. Because of who He is and what He's done, He deserves all the glory and all the honor and all the praise from all creation. And remember most of all . . . when we were at our worst, He gave us His best, He gave us Jesus. Let me put it to you this way . . . if anyone deserves excellence from us, it's Him. He deserves it. He demands it. And as we live our lives reflecting and representing Him to this world, He expects that we live it.

2. Commitment

Unless there's a commitment to excellence, there will never be a pursuit of excellence and certainly never an attaining of it. And the commitment that excellence requires . . . well it's a real deal kind of a commitment. It's a true, sincere, heartfelt kind of commitment. It's a no-matter-what-it-takes, even-when-I-don't-want-to-or-feel-like-it kind of commitment. It's a commitment without compromise. It's a commitment that refuses to be side-tracked or distracted. It's a commitment that demands results . . . and ultimately it's a commitment that gets them.
Only the things that we're truly committed to will take precedence and priority in our lives . . . and excellence must be one of those things.

3. Sacrifice

Excellence demands sacrifice. No matter how hard that is to hear, anyone who's ever achieved excellence in anything will tell you it's true. We like for things to come easy though don't we? We want little effort and a whole lot of reward - isn't that true? We want the "A" without having to study or do the homework. We want the promotion in status and pay without having to take on the extra hours and responsibilities. We want the good doctor's report and the smaller sized clothes . . . but we don't want to go to the gym and we certainly don't want to have to change our habits of lazy-boy lounging and saturated-fat snacking. We want revival, we want signs and wonders and everyone to receive a miracle, we want God to show up . . . and we want it all to happen without it costing us anything. We want excellence without sacrifice . . . but it just doesn't happen that way.
Are we willing to pursue excellence? Better maybe to ask: are we willing to sacrifice? How about it . . . are you willing to sacrifice the easy way for the excellent one? Are you willing to sacrifice the "just enough to get by" philosophy for a "better than best" one? Are you willing to sacrifice your time, your effort, your energy . . . even in fact anything and everything that would stand in the way of your pursuit of excellence?
Excellence demands sacrifice . . . it always has and it always will.

4. Courage

Maybe as you read this, you're beginning to think of all the areas in your life wherein you desire to truly and sincerely pursue excellence. You maybe sense a cry from your own spirit, "I do want to experience excellence in my walk with God! I do want to have an excellent marriage! I do want to be an excellent parent and/or son or daughter. I do want excellence in everything!" I think we especially sense that inner longing as we recognize the areas wherein we need to do better in pursuing excellence. Maybe like me, you think you're doing fine with God, your spouse, your kids, and everyone else . . . until you're confronted by excellence, until you're forced to consider - not just fine, but excellence in those things. All of a sudden, we realize there's work to be done don't we? And the question then: How can I achieve that excellence? How do I get from here to there? The reality, I don't have that answer for you. I don't know what you'll need to do because I don't know the situation and circumstances of your life. What I do know though, it's going to take courage on your part to make it happen. You're going have to step up and step out . . . and that's going to take courage. You're maybe going to have to do something you've never done before, you're maybe going to have to move out of your comfort zone - in other words, you may have to do something you've never done and don't want to do . . . and that's going to take courage. You're going to make commitments that are going to cost you . . . and that's going to take courage. You're going to have to set yourself apart from the status quo . . . and that's going to take courage.
Excellence can be a fearful thing . . . but how about this: let's chose to fear mediocrity instead and demand from ourselves then the courage to pursue excellence.

5. Perseverance

"There will always be a reason to offer God less than our best." When I read that the other day, I realized that the pursuit of excellence was going to be a lifelong journey. There will always be the temptation to think that God doesn't mind us giving less than our best . . . there will always be the inclination to settle in our relationship with Jesus - to be fine with just fine . . . there will always be the easy and expedient thing that would threaten the excellent thing . . . and so then, we must always persevere in pursuing excellence.
"There will always be a reason to offer less than our best" - that's true in our relationship with God and it's true in every other area of our lives as well. And so we fight for excellence - today, tomorrow, all the time, every time . . . because it's worth fighting for!

Lord, help me to run after excellence . . . and never stop! Amen.