Be The Best You Can Be
We live in a world where only the best is good enough. If I own a Ford, I want a Cadillac. If I own a Cadillac, I want a Mercedes. If I own a Mercedes, I want a Rolls. Even I am only driving my Jeep Grand Cherokee until I can afford a Hummer!
When young boys gather together on the ball field, they choose sides. Does anyone ever choose first the kid who can’t catch and strikes out most of the time? No! Personally, I didn’t play a lot of ball. I just couldn’t handle being chosen last or next to last. I finally quit when they started letting girls play. I couldn’t stand the humiliation.
Have you ever heard of the saying, “Keeping up with the Jones’s?” We have a tendency to always want the biggest, the most expensive, the most exclusive, well, the best. There is a saying that the worst enemy of the best is the good. Good is o.k., but it will never be the best! Settling for good will always keep us from striving for the best.
I have never been the best at anything. When I was in the sixth grade, they considered four of us for immediate promotion to the seventh grade at the beginning of the year. My best friend Tommy and I had very good grades, but Alicia and Janice had better. They were the best choice. Even at our seventh grade graduation, Laverne gave the Valedictorian speech. I had to settle for Salutatorian. On the baseball diamond, in sixth grade, and now seventh grade; foiled again-by a girl! I’m over it, I really am. They will probably ask me to be the poster boy for the next Women’s Liberation conference!
I didn’t like being second best. I wanted to be the one that everyone else strove to be like. I didn’t become the best at anything until I became Conference Champion in the three mile race in college. But, hey! It wasn’t the best conference! See! Most of us find ourselves in a rat race with no chance of ever becoming the very best. That position has already been filled , but in that position we have hope.
Included in being best is never making a mistake, or always doing exactly what is required, or never giving up. It means to never settle for anything less than the very best. I know of only one person who can fill those shoes, or should I say sandals-Jesus of Nazareth.
Satan tried to get him to settle for less than best in the wilderness. There were many times that He was tempted to call fire down from heaven to consume the Scribes and Pharisees who taunted him. He even struggled in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of his crucifixion. Even his worst would have been better than our best, but he was not content to settle for anything less than the best.
What was best? His Father’s will. He said nothing he didn’t hear the Father say. He did nothing except what he saw the Father do. He was perfect in every way and he left us with the commandment to “be perfect as I am perfect.” In other words, we should be the best we can be with what he has given us.
It is in the position of being “in Him,” that we achieve perfection. God doesn’t see our imperfections, because we are hidden in him. In God’s eyes, we are as Jesus. It doesn’t become a matter of doing something better than anyone else, it becomes a matter of doing what pleases God, of not settling for anything less than what he asks.
Personally, this is where I am right now. I am not satisfied with doing anything less that what he desires of me, but I have peace in knowing that my relationship with him doesn’t hinge on “what” I do, but “who” I am. Nevertheless, I really like that verse in the Bible which says that in his eyes there is neither male nor female.
© Copyright 2005 by Paul Whitley. All rights reserved.
When young boys gather together on the ball field, they choose sides. Does anyone ever choose first the kid who can’t catch and strikes out most of the time? No! Personally, I didn’t play a lot of ball. I just couldn’t handle being chosen last or next to last. I finally quit when they started letting girls play. I couldn’t stand the humiliation.
Have you ever heard of the saying, “Keeping up with the Jones’s?” We have a tendency to always want the biggest, the most expensive, the most exclusive, well, the best. There is a saying that the worst enemy of the best is the good. Good is o.k., but it will never be the best! Settling for good will always keep us from striving for the best.
I have never been the best at anything. When I was in the sixth grade, they considered four of us for immediate promotion to the seventh grade at the beginning of the year. My best friend Tommy and I had very good grades, but Alicia and Janice had better. They were the best choice. Even at our seventh grade graduation, Laverne gave the Valedictorian speech. I had to settle for Salutatorian. On the baseball diamond, in sixth grade, and now seventh grade; foiled again-by a girl! I’m over it, I really am. They will probably ask me to be the poster boy for the next Women’s Liberation conference!
I didn’t like being second best. I wanted to be the one that everyone else strove to be like. I didn’t become the best at anything until I became Conference Champion in the three mile race in college. But, hey! It wasn’t the best conference! See! Most of us find ourselves in a rat race with no chance of ever becoming the very best. That position has already been filled , but in that position we have hope.
Included in being best is never making a mistake, or always doing exactly what is required, or never giving up. It means to never settle for anything less than the very best. I know of only one person who can fill those shoes, or should I say sandals-Jesus of Nazareth.
Satan tried to get him to settle for less than best in the wilderness. There were many times that He was tempted to call fire down from heaven to consume the Scribes and Pharisees who taunted him. He even struggled in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of his crucifixion. Even his worst would have been better than our best, but he was not content to settle for anything less than the best.
What was best? His Father’s will. He said nothing he didn’t hear the Father say. He did nothing except what he saw the Father do. He was perfect in every way and he left us with the commandment to “be perfect as I am perfect.” In other words, we should be the best we can be with what he has given us.
It is in the position of being “in Him,” that we achieve perfection. God doesn’t see our imperfections, because we are hidden in him. In God’s eyes, we are as Jesus. It doesn’t become a matter of doing something better than anyone else, it becomes a matter of doing what pleases God, of not settling for anything less than what he asks.
Personally, this is where I am right now. I am not satisfied with doing anything less that what he desires of me, but I have peace in knowing that my relationship with him doesn’t hinge on “what” I do, but “who” I am. Nevertheless, I really like that verse in the Bible which says that in his eyes there is neither male nor female.
© Copyright 2005 by Paul Whitley. All rights reserved.
posted by GrandFather at 10:32 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home