Biblical Excellence and Stressful living

Here is a posting from my journal some ten years ago. It was a part of my reflection as I transitioned out of public ministry and more into the prayer room. As in all perspectives, I am sure what I was doing was affecting what I felt everyone should do. We feel more secure when people agree with us.

But I feel there are many young people, bombarded by social media and a false sense of reality, that need to know they are OK in their brokenness. Not OK, as in no need to change or grow. But OK in  being less than you can and less than others expect is a part of becoming all God made you to be.

The road to Biblical excellence does not travel from the head, but the heart.

Excellence. It is a word we use to challenge people to do their best, and just a little more. It is a mindset we may have to motivate ourselves to do more and to do more, better. But why?

Should a Christian strive to live on the edge of perfection? Should that quest to be excellent be a motivational thought or driving emotion? Do we have the right idea(s) about excellence? Was Jesus a perfect carpenter, or leader, or son, or scribe? And how does our idea of excellence come into play with our personal quest for identity, success or worth?

I have given up the pursuit of excellence. Some of it died when I came to embrace my limits, my mental and physical conditions. Some of it died as I grew old and the invincibility of a twenty-some-year-old gained the wisdom of a fifty-some-year-old. And a little more died when I found the peace of living with all that I am not. The constant drive to be more only led me to see more and more of what I am not. I am not a mathematician, a biological engineer, a Hebrew language teacher, a social worker or a social media guru. But every day I do math, engineering, language, deal with society and use social media.

Somewhere in my justification of abandoning the quest for excellence someone informed me that the quest is about reaching the top of one mountain, not all of them. But that definition reveals to me the very reason I died to the whole idea. Excellence is the quality of being outstanding and how can you be outstanding if you only do one thing? How do you ever know when excellence is excellent enough?

In the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, do we see the guy who got one talent as excellent? Of course not, he buried his talent. But then we have the guy in the middle, the guy with five. He is the guy we overlook. He is most of us. He is the reason that excellence manifests most often in life through competition, comparison, envy, and pride. How many of us live in the place of determining who we are and how we are doing by looking first to what we are not and then justifying our condition by saying, "But at least I am not that person?" OK, enough of a rant against excellence.

I choose rather to pursue whole heartedness. Whole heartedness allows me to focus on the source and not try and determine outcomes. It allows me to live life with less anger and less manipulation than a life seeking worth via outcomes. I know outcomes are the only measurement that matter for some. We all do need to find our way with God in this life. I am trying to live wholehearted

in a result driven society. And it is working.

Wholeheartedness allows me to embrace both my strengths and weaknesses. It allows me the grace to grow and not just the pressure to perform. It opens my mindset to fail forward and join in impossible tasks with joy, rather than fear. Inability has been a great tool of the Lord in my life. It has taught me to have mercy on myself and over time how to have greater mercy on others. People I once got upset with for “not trying,” “not giving it their all,” or “not being excellent” now can receive grace. This grace is both an attitude of my heart and my mind. You might say that an excellent leader is a leader who doesn't require excellence.

Being the best was a major motivation in my life when I was twenty-something. And if you asked me, I would have told you it was for the glory of the Lord. Over the next twenty-some years, I discovered how deeply my own soul can lie. I came to see how little I truly knew of myself and of the ways of God. I developed a much better and truer understanding of the cross, suffering, endurance, patience, and humility. I also know when you are young you are to build your life, ascend, master, rule. This then gives you your offering to the Lord when you turn the corner and start to face your eternal Father. All that we did for Him is then offered to Him as we learn to live wholehearted and not just excellent.

#redneckmystic

#disciple

My book Jesus and Baseball has many stories that reveal the struggles young people face today. It will help parents, leaders, and youth see what is happening and offer a different perspective than the world offers. I hope you check it out.