Living an Excellent Christian Life
Not long after I got born again, I got my first job. It was in 1995 and I was twenty-five years old. I worked at the student administration of a university in Rotterdam. My colleagues were unbelievers, but that did not bother me much. However, after some time, they started commenting on my work attitude. Why? They didn’t like my input and thought I was too ‘zealous’. For example, I was still working when they were already packing their bags some minutes before 5 o’clock, or when a software application showed errors I would notify the department manager immediately, and I would bring in new ideas to structure the workflow..etc. The reality is not that they disagreed with my input, but that they feared for their own jobs because our boss could judge their workstyle as slothful.
However, I did not let their comments change me. Why? Because I made it my life motto to be excellent in everything I do, excellent in the eyes of an unseen God, not excellent in the eyes of visible humans, and not even excellent in my own eyes. Why? Because I made this verse my life banner: “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men” (Colossians 3:23). This verse provides me guidance for how to act since the day I was born again, whether in the corporate world, in business, at church, at home, when going out, with friends, in my marriage and more. Whatever I do, I check it against the benchmark of this verse by asking myself, “if this was for God, would I do it this way?”
I do this to such an extent that for example every email I write (no matter how insignificant the topic may seem), I cross check it on punctuation, spelling, alignment, wording, and tone used, before I click on ‘send’. This habit sometimes wearies me personally, because occasionally I just want to get it done quickly and go on. Once in a while, I am tempted to do a ‘lousy’ job. We all are. But every time I sense that mood, I go back to the verse in Colossians and spend just a bit more time on whatever I am doing and complete it to satisfaction. And that is exactly what excellence does: it brings you satisfaction.
Excellence, to some degree, is in the eye of the ‘beholder’. If you have done your best, you may feel that your work is excellent, but the beholder may have had different expectations and a different way to evaluate whether your effort was excellent. Excellence, therefore, is not about how you see it, but how the ‘beholder’ sees it. It is essential to satisfy the expectation of your ‘beholder’. In our case, as Christians, our ultimate beholder is God. So, what does God expect us to do? He expects us to be excellent in everything we do.
What is being excellent? It is doing more than what you are being asked to do, doing it with a smile, doing it perfectly, doing it with passion, working hard, having a good attitude, being productive, being aware of your social media tail, delivering quality, being knowledgeable and skillful, being honest. Being excellent simply means giving your all, even if no-one sees it and if others murmur about you and give you names and when you are angry at the person for whom you are doing something. Others may not see your excellent work and you may not get the reward you are expecting, but even though they do not reward you, do not ever use that as an excuse to do lousy work! Never let anything or anyone stand in your way to excellence. It would kill your God given spirit of excellence.
Excellence does not only apply to your work sphere and the output of your hands but it also relates to every other sphere of your life. Excellence in your heart, excellence in your thoughts, excellence in the words of your mouth, are all vital areas to be excellent in.
Excellence in your heart is unseen: it is the motivation with which you do things. I clearly remember a Christian broadcasting program more than 25 years ago, in which an elderly woman used the example of a wife preparing a meal for her husband. The scenario was a couple which had a fight just before the woman went out to purchase groceries. While buying the food and preparing soup, the wife continually grumbled in her heart against her husband: that soup is obviously not going to be a blessing! The motivation of her heart was wrong, it was not excellent. Even though her husband would never come to know the negative meditations of her heart, it was not right, not excellent, and not a blessing. Being excellent does not depend on the people around you and does not depend on whether they treat you well or not. It is a heart-attitude, not a skill.
There is excellence in our thoughts too, another unseen form of being excellent. Philippians 4 verse 8 says we should meditate on whatever things are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy. This means pure excellence in our thoughts. No one will ever see it, but it will shape your complete being when you apply it, and it will positively determine everything else in your life.
And then there is excellence in our words. The bible simply says, “I will speak of excellent things, and from the opening of my lips will come right things” (Proverbs 8:6). The words of our mouth are vital to building an excellent life. Our words can build, and our words can destroy. And the choice has been given to us. I am sure you want an excellent life. Well, it is within your hands to live an excellent life, not in someone else’s hands.
And of course, there is excellence as being wives: “An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, but she who causes shame is like rottenness in his bones” (Proverbs 12:4). I do not know about you, but I do not want to be the rot in my husband’s bones. So, even for this reason alone, I will endeavor -within my human capacity- to live an excellent life. I would rather be a crown than rottenness, even if the rottenness is far easier to do.
Being or becoming excellent does not come by itself. It requires hard work. It means satisfying the requirement, being well-prepared, going beyond what is expected, and continuing without ceasing. You may ask, “why should I be excellent, why should I go through all the hard work and work ‘as for the Lord’?” Well, it comes with a reward! The next verse in Colossians reads: “knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ” (Colossians 3: 24). Your reward comes from God, not from men. And exactly that should be your focus. It is interesting to note that a lot of what makes people excellent, are the little things done behind the scenes and in obscurity. But that is okay. God sees in secret, and rewards publicly.
There are other rewards too. Excellence gives you a high degree of personal satisfaction, an increase in confidence and self-esteem, an improvement of your knowledge and skills, respect and honor among men, dignity among men etc. However, be watchful for being excellent just for a reward: if you are expecting rewards for being excellent then you are not really excellent, but just acting to be. But when you start realizing that being excellent is a reward in itself, then you won’t need any more motivation to be excellent.
EXCELLENT PEOPLE ARE LIKE DIAMONDS, THEY ALWAYS SPARKLE.
