Never Second Best

Some more Beauty and the Beast lyrics that can be applied back to our lives:

A dinner here is never second best

Would it be so scandalous to say that I believe that Christians should be at the top of every field and discipline and role in life? And I believe that competence matters for Christians because the Christian life is a life of action, and our actions are intended to result in God being glorified.

Am I saying that every Christian should always be the best at everything? Nej, not at all. I'm saying that each of us should be doing our best at whatever it is we are gifted and called to do. And that when we all rise up to be our best, to live in the fullness of our God-given potential, we will see people across every different space of life succeeding and exceeding for the glory of God.

I'm also not saying that this success only equates to becoming CEO or an Olympic swimmer. Why do we limit ourselves to so little? Let us aim to succeed in friendship, in serving, in giving, in discipling, in teaching, in helping, in forgiving, in loving. Be your best in your role as a nurse, daughter, secretary, guard, coach, parent, driver, friend.

Martin Luther King Jr said:

“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.” 

Being the best also comes down to the little mundane things in our lives: homework, cooking dinner, driving to work, etc. Your life will require you to invest a lot of time and energy in things that aren't big and don't seem to make much of an impact. Habits like working hard, maintaining a positive attitude, living with self-discipline and intergrity bring benefits to our lives now and pay enormous dividends in the future.

Making an effort to be kind to a brother or sister now both shapes your relationship with your sibling and trains you to relate to your future colleagues. Applying your brain to that awful maths now affects your academic future and develops your brain to deal with complex situations later in life.

"Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people." - Col 3:23

If we can rewire our brains to see our every action and word as a chance to glorify Jesus, I believe we will rise up to be our best.

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God." - 1 Cor 10:31

We all want to do big and important things, but we tend to discount doing our best in the equally important small things that get us there, even the eating and the drinking. The desire to do your best - even when no one around you requires it - takes a special kind of character. Being faithful in the smallest things is the way to gain and maintain the strength needed to be the best.

Please note that we aren't called to be successful all the time. We're called to be faithful, to take those first difficult steps and leave the results up to God. Failure is a way to grow stronger, not to give up. All effort, even failed effort, builds muscle and stamina.

Let's do our best and trust God for the rest.