All Nations Value 3: We work hard and with excellence
God’s Recipe for Excellence
I am a perfectionist. This means I have spent most of my life trying to make sure I do everything perfectly. If I felt I could not complete a task perfectly, I would procrastinate in completing it, avoid doing it at all, or pass it off to someone else who I thought was more qualified.
The problem with perfectionism is that we, as human beings, are innately imperfect because of sin. Sin will always mar us in some way until Jesus returns and we are perfected.
But we love excellence, and we promote excellence, and this is good and right. Often however, I think we equate excellence with perfection. But I don’t think Jesus does. He does not ask for our best, or for perfection: He asks for faithfulness.
In the past few months, I was entrusted with planning something involving many people, in an area I’ve never visited before. I got to a point in the early planning process where I was ready to quit. To be perfectly transparent, I was convinced that it was “unfair” that I had been entrusted with something I “clearly” was not equipped to carry out with my giftings and personality. I would not have wanted to own that at the time, but it is the truth.
I was pouring out my frustrations to my boyfriend one night and explaining how much I wanted to quit and pass the baton to someone more suited to the role. He was quiet for a moment, and then said simply and gently, “Well, all I know is that it’s never good to run away from something just because it’s hard.”
And that was exactly what I needed to hear in that moment. It started me on a different thought path.
The next morning as I was getting ready for work, the story of the three servants with the talents came to mind in Luke 25:14-30. It struck me that it did not matter how much each one of them had been given, or whether they could steward what had been given to them perfectly. What mattered was that they were faithful with what had been entrusted to them.
Two of them were faithful, one was not. And the one who was not faithful was condemned as both wicked and lazy because 1) he did not believe in the generous character of his master, and 2) because he buried his talent in the ground instead of faithfully stewarding it as best he could:
He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ (Luke 25:24, ESV, Bible Gateway)
In essence he is saying to his master that his master expected good results without giving him what he needed to deliver. This is a direct attack on the character of God and avoidance of personal responsibility. But Jesus said:
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28, ESV, Bible Gateway)
Jesus promises to teach us how to do what He has asked of us. And as we learn, He never leaves our side because He is our source of life and follow-through:
I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. (John 15:5-6, ESV, Bible Gateway)
The key is, we have to live and work by God’s “recipe,” if you will:
Connectedness to Christ + Faithfulness = Fruit of Excellence.
We are not asked to perform perfectly, beloved. We are asked to be faithful with what has been entrusted to us; we are asked not to quit and to keep “showing up for work” even when it is hard. And we keep showing up by abiding in Christ with complete abandon.
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