There is something very satisfying about doing things with excellence. After all, we are created in God’s image. Nothing God does is mediocre. God does everything with excellence; it’s in His nature. You only have to look out at the striking beauty of a landscape or the sparkle of a sunrise over the ocean to see not only beauty but excellence. People are attracted to excellence. Think about it. Would you prefer going to a restaurant where the food was cold because it sat too long in the kitchen, and the waitress was snippy and not attentive? Or would you prefer an atmosphere that was warm and inviting, where the food was served promptly by a staff who valued excellence and genuinely cared about your experience? Excellence is attractive. We want to set that example of excellence in all that we do.
It’s easy for me to relate to this example because, for years, I was a waitress and a bartender. I enjoyed my line of work. The reason is I love people, and I enjoy serving others. I found doing it with a spirit of excellence to be rewarding. I had many customers who were regulars and requested me as their server. Some were extremely generous, and some were downright cheap, but that never reflected the level of service I gave them because to give them anything less than my best would have had a negative effect on my day. What I found was that I didn’t need to be perfect. If, on occasion, I didn’t get their order right, they extended grace to me because they knew I genuinely cared and I was doing my absolute best to serve them with excellence. But the best part of it was that in that hospitable atmosphere, many opportunities opened up for me to share my faith.
We are called Christ’s ambassadors. In other words, we represent Him. 2 Corinthians 5:20 speaks of this: “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though Christ were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: be reconciled to God.” Excellence is not perfection, because there is no joy in trying to be perfect; perfection is something that is unattainable, and it only leads to strife. However, there is joy in doing things with excellence—an inner satisfaction in applying yourself wholeheartedly to something. Knowing you gave your absolute best, and as you do, you will continue to grow in excellence through that commitment to it.
Pastor Adam attended one of the Pastoral Leadership Conferences. A lesson he brought back to us as a church family is that excellence produces comfort, and comfort produces openness.
As Christians, openness is what we are after because we are here to live our lives in such a way that it draws others to the saving grace of Christ. We are His mouthpiece, and people are not so much attracted to what we have to say until they are attracted to the way we live our lives. So let’s live our lives with excellence in our personal lives, in the workplace, and as we serve together as a church. Because excellence produces comfort, and comfort produces openness.
The atmosphere of openness we seek is an openness to the Gospel.
2 Corinthians 5:20: “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though Christ were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: be reconciled to God.”