excellence

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.  (Philippians 4:8)

A sister in law school used to always encourage us to be excellent--that there was nothing unbiblical about striving to be excellent in school and at our future jobs and that, in fact, God desired for us to be excellent. 

I found those statements to be quite odd when I first heard it.  After years of being taught that we had to be humble, meek, emptied of ourselves, I found it a little presumptuous to say that God wanted us to be excellent-- especially if applied in such a worldly fashion.  It seemed like a fast track to prosperity gospel living: oh yes, I graduated from an Ivy League school, make $300,000 a year while donating generously, and drive a Maserati because this is the fruit of being excellent for Jesus.  Or alternatively, it just seemed like an easy way for the enemy to find strongholds in pride, self-dependence, anxiety, covetousness, etc.  So surely, if God did actually desire for us to be excellent, He desired it in the sense that we had to be super holy, right?  Excellent in serving, excellent in studying the Word, excellent in a way that didn't give off any semblance of being excellent in the world's eyes, right? 

Sure.

But also nah.

That kind of excellence is not the only kind of excellence that He inspires or encourages.  

I recently read a book called Garden City: Work, Rest, and the Art of Being Human by John Mark Comer, which I would recommend-- gave me a lot of good food for thought, and it's a pretty quick read too (although I confess it took me weeks because I kept being unable to actually sit down and plow through it).  In it, Comer writes: "The word image is selem in Hebrew, and it can be translated 'idol' or 'statue.' . . . .  We are God's statues.  His selem.  We were put on earth--because the entire cosmos is this God's temple--to make visible the invisible God.  To show the world what God is like. We are the Creator's representatives to his creation." (p.39).   

So, at a minimum, my former understanding of what sort of excellence God's desired wasn't wrong, per se.  After all, we are commanded to "[o]utdo one another in showing honor" (Romans 12:10), to "excel" in generosity (2 Corinthians 8:7), and my personal favorite hardly-attainable command: "[r]ejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances" (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).   If those aren't commands to be excellent, then I don't know what is.

But I've come to embrace an "expanded" view of "excellence" in this lifetime, especially as I have begun working and contemplating my calling.  If we are to be "the Creator's representatives to his creation", then we need to be excellent in all aspects, including in our workplaces.  There is no secular/spiritual divide in our life; we don't aim to be loving, wise, and otherwise Christ-like only in certain settings, so why should we only aim to be excellent in the "spiritual" sense regarding "holy" goals?

As I've meditated on the idea of excellence, I've realized that I have felt strongly about being excellent students and excellent workers for a long time, but I didn't know how to articulate how I felt (I thought it was just an innate attraction to diligence lol).  I've always felt that it's a shame when "leaning not on your own understanding" or "trusting in the Lord" is used as an excuse to be a lazy, defeated, and aimless scrub.  It does not reflect our most excellent and mighty God at all, and it really hurts the way Christians are perceived as well.  Recently, I've been thinking a lot about what it means to influence those who are in positions of influence as a Christian.  What I've come up with is, being excellent doesn't mean that success will necessarily follow, but there is power in being excellent (and being known to be excellent).   

I now love the word "excellent".  I will encourage anyone to be excellent, even-- and especially--when it is difficult.  It is in our nature to want to settle and do the bare minimum, to get tired of working and to seek out distractions.  But we have also been made in His excellent image! 

On the other hand, I realize that there are a lot of people out there (in certain aspects, myself included) who are hardwired to crave excellence for a myriad of non-God-reflecting reasons (a desire for personal glory, a desire for security and peace of mind, a desire for approval) so I am still cognizant of the pitfalls.  That's why we need Jesus in this endeavor. 

Philippians 4:8 encourages us to think about things that have "any excellence", which comes after a string of other adjectives-- true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable-- which indicates to me that "excellence" encompasses those things and so much more.  We are all created uniquely (to the chagrin of critics of millennials) so the ways in which we can be excellent for God are so varied, but the underlying command is the same: be excellent!