This week, the topic was “Excellence and Integrity.” A few months ago, God began to reveal to me the importance of living my life with excellence. Shortly after that, I saw Joyce Meyer preaching a sermon on television about this very thing. I was thrilled! Hearing the things that Joyce was preaching on was confirmation to me that this is truly important to the Lord. I bought Joyce’s four part DVD series entitled “Living with Excellence and Integrity,” and I have used this as my resource for the blog’s I have posted this week.
When I think about the Lord I am amazed at how glorious He is. I don’t believe that the magnitude of God’s glory and excellence can even be fully understood by us, while we are here on earth. However, I know God is beautiful, magnificent and amazing in every way, and I cannot thank Him enough for saving and redeeming me. Becoming a child of God means so many things. First, we have been forgiven, and we have the promise of everlasting life (John 3:16). Second, we have been born again, and we are children of God (1 John 5:1). Third, we have been set free from the bondage of sin, and from the things of this world, and we have complete freedom in Christ (John 8:36). Last but not least, God has called us to share His gospel with the world (Mark 16:15), He has set us apart, and we are His sons and daughters, His heirs (Romans 8:15-17).
If for no other reason than the fact that Jesus suffered and gave His life for us, we should desire to live a life that is excellent. How many Christian’s forget what Christ did for them? They live in sin and darkness like other lost people in the world, and they choose not to repent and give their hearts completely to Christ. Why? Jesus didn’t die so that we would be lukewarm, on the fence, or live like people who are unsaved. We have a duty not only to God, but to others, to live our best life. We are called to be the light of the world and reach out to the lost and introduce them to the Savior. We can’t be effective as Christian’s if we don’t choose to fully surrender to God. Not to mention the fact that we are selling ourselves short and denying ourselves of abundant life, when we keep one foot in the world and one foot out.
1 Peter 2:9 says, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” What an amazing verse! We are a chosen people. We are a royal priesthood. We are a holy nation, a people belonging to God. We have been called out of darkness, into God’s wonderful light. Do any of these words insinuate that we should live average lives with a lukewarm heart towards God? Absolutely not! The words chosen, royal priesthood, holy nation, and people belonging to God all point towards excellence and living a life that is excellent.
Living a life that is excellence has nothing to do with money. It has nothing to do with having a lot of possessions or having nice things. Living a life of excellence begins with making a decision to follow Christ and give Him your heart and your life, with complete surrender. The next step is to make time and fellowship with God every day. Read and study the Bible. Pray daily. Attend church weekly, get lost in praise and worship, and serve inside and outside of your church. Listen to God’s voice. Make the effort to get to know God and grow in your relationship with Him. Share the Gospel with people in your life who aren’t saved, and as you do these things, God will transform you from glory to glory. The last and most important step is to press on and continue growing. It’s easy to give your life to the Lord. The hard part is sticking with your decision to live for Jesus. You will face persecution. You may have to let go of some of your relationships that don’t glorify God. You may be lonely for a little while, and you may be taken completely out of your comfort zone, but stick with Jesus! During the difficult times in your walk with God, you will grow to be a more excellent man or woman of God. God loves you, and He is with you. He won’t give you anymore than you can bear, so hang in there.
In order to be an excellent person for the Lord, we need to come up higher. We need to come up higher in our thoughts, in what we say, in how we act, in the way we treat others, and in every area of our lives. We need to walk in a manner that is worthy of God’s calling. Philippians 4:8 reminds us how to live an excellent life. “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things (Philippians 4:8).” Choose to be a leader and not a follower. Go against the grain, even when it is “uncool,” unpopular, or if no one else is doing it. No one is going to be perfect. Living with excellence has nothing to do with perfectionism. Excellence is the choice to be the best person that God has created you to be! With God’s help, you can do it!
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