Everyone wants excellence throughout their lives but takes a lot of work to produce it. When going to the movies, restaurants, sports, and concerts we choose the best, our favorite, or at least we want the best. Everyone enjoys seeing a great piece of work.

The one problem that I have is sometimes Christians especially don’t expect excellence from themselves. This creates ministries, works of art, and careers that are mediocre. “It’s better than nothing” attitudes give a poor excuse for “okay” work. Some of our efforts might have been better not done at all instead of done poorly.

Christians should of all people be the best at what they do. And they should do everything with integrity and quality. Sometimes with school we are tempted to do the minimum for our classes and maybe brag about how little we did for a grade. I don’t think mediocrity and bad work are something that Christians should be okay with. As Christians we should be the best business people, social workers, artists, pastors, teachers. Wouldn’t it be great if youth pastors were known for how scholarly and wise they were because of their excellence in their work instead of being thought of negatively. Unfortunately, many jobs can be known for sub-par work. We need great Christians in all fields to do their work with excellence.

These aren’t just my thoughts. These thoughts come from an idea found throughout the Bible and that is whatever you do, do it excellently. Colossians 3:23 says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord.” These thoughts come from many different stories in the Bible. God has never been alright with someone giving a half effort. Genesis 4 is the story of Cain and Abel. The common denominator in their sacrifices to God is that they gave a sacrifice but Abel gave his first fruits and Cain gave his second best. The widow in Mark 12 gave all she had to the Lord, not holding anything back, and Jesus was pleased with her. I am also reminded of the the three kings that came to baby Jesus. They didn’t just bring any gifts but the best gifts to baby Jesus. The story of three servants with the talents, the master was not happy that the servant just put his gift in the ground but he greatly rewarded his servants that worked with the money he gave them. God wants our best.

There are several examples of excellent work done by Christians today. At Cairn, many of us go to Chick-Fil-A and every time I go there, I can’t think of any way that the restaurant could do better. For Eagles fans, Carson Wentz is a star because he is lead the Eagles to the Superbowl. He doesn’t flaunt his Christianity around, but people know he is a Christian and his faith along with the teams has made its way into discussions on TV and radio stations. Authors like Tolkien and C.S. Lewis are still relevant today, and their stories are widely known. These are all great examples of people doing great things for God. They are so good at what they do, and people can’t ignore them.

If every Christian were to do their job with excellence, I believe that we would see God do great things. Our witness to the rest of the world would be greater. People would know Christians for not only being kind and generous but would respect us more for the great work we do. They would sit up and notice us and see that there is something different about us not just in the way we treat others but also in the respect we have for God through our work.

In doing excellent work, God makes our lives richer in our relationship with Him, bringing us closer to Him every day. In our work, God doesn’t need our best to be glorified, but He does want it. I see the gifts that he has given us as an opportunity to do our best. God is asking us if we want to be a part of His work and doing work excellently will help us experience God’s work most fully. We should work with gratitude for what God has done for us and show it in the quality of work we do.

It should always be an honor and a privilege to serve Him in our work.