Bring Your "A" Game

Many professing Christians seem to be very concerned about verbally witnessing their faith to others and heavily emphasizing how much "God loves everybody" as a model for evangelizing. But the same people often underestimate the importance of being a living example of God's attributes and shining their light before men. To illustrate, not much is said of excellence and how important this quality is to develop for Christians as ambassadors of God's kingdom and representatives of His character. I realize that no one is perfect, but does this mean Christians shouldn't strive to be excellent in what they do? Read the argument below, as informed by the Bible, to find out.

What the Bible Says about Excellence

Most Christians would agree that one of our most important roles as God’s children is to represent His kingdom and increasingly reflect the attributes of Jesus Christ during our lives. We are to manifest God’s glory in our actions, words, beliefs, etc., or as Paul taught, we are to live as “ambassadors for Christ” just as he set the example in 2 Corinthians 5:20. One reason for this is because we were created by God to be “conformed to the image of His Son” (Romans 8:29).

Reflecting God's Character

Since Jesus is the “radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being,” (Hebrews 1:3, NIV) we reflect the Father’s nature as we are conformed to the image of the Son. Another concept that comes to mind in this regard is the Biblical phenomenon of being filled with the Spirit of God or the Holy Spirit. When this happens, God’s people have undoubtedly moved in ways that revealed His magnificence or purposes in some way.

When Christians are careful to walk closely with God, they will exhibit many of His qualities including compassion, righteousness, power, goodness, wisdom, patience, mercy, justice, holiness, faithfulness, graciousness, and many more. But one important characteristic rarely seems to enter the conversation for some reason – God’s excellence.

An Unpopular Idea

As an observer of American culture, I have noticed a few reasons why excellence gets little attention in the modern scene. For one, people usually prefer living in mediocrity because it is easier to exist this way, and few want to stand out from the rest. Cultivating excellence takes sacrifice and sets one apart from the crowd, which has become blasphemous behavior in a culture that pushes socialization and conformity as one of its noblest values.

In an ungodly society, where leisure, pleasure, and entertainment are the main goals in most people’s lives, this mindset is to be expected, but in the Christian community, one would hope that the high calling of serving in Christ’s kingdom would inject believers with a sense of mission to become the best at whatever they do. Sadly, such is often not the case. As with many other issues, the culture seems to have influenced the Christian community in regard to excellence.

What Is God Like?

The first step in convincing Christians that excellence should be a goal for their lives is to demonstrate that this trait is significantly emphasized in the Bible as reflective of God’s nature. To list a few examples, Job 37:23 declares that God is “excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice,” and in Psalm 36:7 we learn that God’s “lovingkindness” is excellent. Also in Psalms, the mandate is to praise God “according to his excellent greatness” (Psalm 150) and to recognize that His name is “excellent in all the earth” (Psalm 8:1).

Corresponding beautifully with Psalm 8, Hebrews affirms of Christ that his name is “more excellent” than those of the angels, and in Jesus’ receiving honor from the Father, a voice comes from God’s “excellent glory” (2 Peter 1:17). Meanwhile, Isaiah 12:5 exults in how God has “done excellent things,” and later the prophet exclaims that God is “wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working” (Isaiah 28:29).

At this point some might protest that God’s excellence is beyond the reach of sinful human beings. That’s what makes God perfect and humanity flawed. There is truth in this concept, but I am not talking about becoming God or taking on His divinity. Instead, I speak about reflecting His nature and character as adopted children. After all, we do share a mystical union with Christ and the Father as Jesus prayed in His high-priestly prayer: “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one” (John 17:22).

People Need It

Of course, in the Scriptures we do have many examples of how important excellence is to our character. For instance, Proverbs 12:26 discusses the excellence of the righteous and 17:27 explains how a man of understanding has an “excellent spirit.” In Philippians 1:9-10, Paul encourages his readers to develop the attributes of love, knowledge, and judgment, so that believers “may approve things that are excellent,” and in 4:8 he directs Christians to think about things that are “excellent or praiseworthy.” (The NIV version uses excellent for the Greek word “arête,” which translates as virtue or moral excellence.)

The Bible also memorializes God’s people in general, and well known biblical figures specifically, who exhibited excellence. To illustrate, the psalmist writes of “the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight” (Psalm 16:3). In Song of Solomon 5:15, the beloved praises the excellence of her lover’s countenance. (Aside from the appreciation of physical beauty in this passage, the lover can also be seen as a metaphor for Christ, hence his overall excellence as well.)

Biblical Heroes

The account of Daniel before the pagan king Belshazzar is worthy of particular notice. After Belshazzar sees the handwriting on the wall, no one can interpret it for him, but Daniel is brought forth as a man with an “excellent spirit” (Daniel 5:12) and as having “excellent wisdom” (5:14). The implications for evangelism here are powerful. Although we live in a different culture and era, the impact that Christian excellence can have on the world is still relevant, especially in an unspiritual age of dullness and unbelief. Consider that the king promoted Daniel “above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him” (Daniel 6:3). In a similar manner, if Christians strove and sacrificed for excellence in what they did, I believe it would gain some positive attention in society.

It could be argued that in the case of Daniel, his excellence was a gift of God bestowed upon him supernaturally and that telling Christians to walk in such power would be unfair unless they were similarly gifted. This assertion is accurate to some extent, but if we go back to Daniel 1, we see that the Israelite children (including Daniel) were chosen to serve the king of Babylon based on certain criteria. In particular, they had to be “skillful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science … whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans” (1:4). In other words, they had to be outstanding students and had to apply themselves to learning so that they could be useful to the Babylonians –- and more importantly, serve God’s divine purposes.

Evangelism in Action

At the very least, then, we should be encouraging fellow Christians to be diligent and sacrifice to be the best at what they do in their studies, careers, business, domestic work, etc., or in whatever other field they demonstrate talent in and are inclined to pursue. This is to be done, first, for the glory of God, even as Daniel set his heart to remain faithful to Yahweh, and second, as a testimony to unbelievers of the one true God. We may not be brought to serve before rulers and heads of state, but somewhere in this world God can use us effectively if we are willing to cultivate excellence in some way.

Further motivation in this regard can be drawn from the words of Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount. After delivering the Beatitudes, Christ instructs his disciples about the impact we should have on the world: “You are the salt of the earth … You are the light of the world…. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:13-14, 16). There is no reason to believe that the example Christ speaks of here must be limited to rescue missions or foreign missionary trips. Christians should be “salt” and “light” wherever they are and most definitely in their careers and life callings.

The Tabernacle and The Temple

Another indicator of the need for excellence among God’s people comes from the specifications Yahweh gave to the Israelites in Exodus chapters 25-27 for the assembly of the tabernacle where His presence would dwell. If one reads the directions given in these chapters, it is obvious that for the Jews to honor their God, every last detail of the project had to be carried out precisely, meticulously, and excellently. Later, in chapter 31, God commissions Bezaleel (among others) who is gifted to carry out the construction work: “And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, To devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, And in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship” (31:3-5). Certainly, we can interpret this capability, once again, as a demonstration of excellence.

Even more elaborate than the tabernacle’s stipulations are those King Solomon gives for the construction of his renowned temple as recorded in 2 Chronicles 2-4. As with the tabernacle, Solomon’s standards are superlative, and the workers he brings into Jerusalem to erect the holy sanctuary are the most excellent. Solomon’s rationale for undertaking this remarkable venture with such exhaustive details is as follows: “And the house which I build is great: for great is our God above all gods” (2 Chronicles 2:5). Although the days of the temple and the priesthood are fulfilled in Christ (and in our own lives since we are all temples of the Holy Spirit and priests unto God), should Christians not be motivated similarly in our work and lives since we still worship the same great God who is above all other gods?

Legalism or a Mental Disorder?

Those who are opposed to my call for Christian excellence can offer some criticisms. Perhaps the most common argument would be that I am advocating a form of legalism. However, I am not talking about excellence as a means to salvation but as a fruit of salvation and as an evidence of sanctification. At the very minimum, moral excellence in the way we live, act, and work should be seen as a sign of God’s having set us apart for His purposes. I understand that “no one is perfect” in the sense that Christians will always have to battle with their weaknesses and sinful natures. I also acknowledge that our moral perfection was accomplished on our behalf by Christ. But in light of this definitive redemption, we are to strive to be our best as part of the sanctification process -- being transformed daily and conformed to Jesus’ image: “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, [even] as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

One final observation must be made here. I am somewhat amused when others identify my sentiments and behaviors concerning Christian excellence as evidence that I suffer from OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder). These individuals either do not understand what the disorder actually involves or are misinterpreting my idea of excellence. A third possibility is that they are excusing their own apathy. In any case, Wikipedia’s definition of OCD should be enough to put the misconception to rest: “Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder characterized by intrusive thoughts that produce uneasiness, apprehension, fear, or worry, by repetitive behaviors aimed at reducing the associated anxiety, or by a combination of such obsessions and compulsions” Hopefully, Christians can see the difference between a nervous disorder and the quest of the righteous to excel in life in order to represent and glorify God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Conclusion

In a way, I am concerned a bit that this message about excellence even needs to be advertised to believers since the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit would seemingly inspire them to put forth only their finest efforts in all that they do. But I sadly have to confess that in my experience, professing Christians have too often been lazy, careless, and sloppy with their work and thinking. Perhaps their minds are at ease because they are resting in the concept that God loves them and will forgive them for their shortcomings. But the issue at stake in this discussion is not God’s love for us but our love for Him. I would consequently maintain that being excellent for God all the time is a normal goal for Christians.