I have often wondered the harm in just trying to get by. What’s really the problem with just trying to just squeak by? It seems rather harmless at first glance. But what’s the proper perspective for us in trying to be the best.
Much of the world today is focused on being the best. But they’re not generally focused on being the best they can be, they’re focused on being the best compared to others. And even if we’re not focused on being the best we can be in comparison, we sometimes are tempted to give up and say, “Well, I’m good enough the way that I am.” But while anyone who truly loves us loves us just the way that we are, I would say that they also love us to much to stay that way. True love always calls us to be something better than what we are. It calls us to do more than we thought we could do. Something that demands more of us than just to exist.
While we always want to become better, one trap we can easily fall into is comparing ourselves with others. I believe comparing ourselves to others is always a fool’s game. It’s a mindset that’s rooted in pride and insecurity. Even if I were a coach I wouldn’t feel compelled to tell the team to just be better than the other team. When you think about it, that’s such a low measurement for success. For one thing, the other team might not be very good. They might really stink. So, if all we have to do is beat the other team, that doesn’t necessarily say anything good about us. And even if we beat a really good team, that’s still no guarantee that we did the best we could do. So, while winning would be important and desirable, there seems to be a higher consideration and purpose at work. Maybe I should call myself and others to be the best they can be individually. Because when you do this, everything else will take care of itself. Just be the best version of yourself you can be. Be better than all the mediocre and low-achieving forms of yourself.
Is there shame in losing a contest when you’ve beat every other alternative version of yourself? I don’t think so. You can walk away with your head held high. In fact, that’s the advice many parents give us isn’t it? Just do your best. Maybe Mom and Dad were right all along. When it comes to competition it’s easy to start comparing ourselves to other people. While it’s fun to see how good we are in competition with others, I don’t feel that should be our primary consideration. We should be always looking for ways to improve on what we’ve done before. But that improvement should be focused on an improvement within ourselves and our character, not in comparison with others, but in comparison to our alternative self.
I am going to make a bold statement. But it’s one which I believe to be true. It’s this: Failure isn’t the enemy of excellence—mediocrity is. For even in failure, we can do so in the attempt of achieving our best. Mediocrity, though, doesn’t demand anything better of us. It allows us to stay at a lower level than is possible.
AV Hebrews 12:14: “Follow peace with all [men], and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:” Of all the things we try to achieve in our relationship with God, holiness is an important element. But it’s one we often tend to neglect. When we do ask the question about holiness, we often just ask, “How holy do I have to be?”, when we should be asking, “How holy can I be?” One thing that goes hand-in-hand with getting closer to God is holiness. We need to run from and shake off all the things that will encumber us and hinder our relationship with God.
AV Revelation 3:15-16: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” God further calls us to Him by calling us out of our mediocrity. While He doesn’t like when people are cold towards Him, He is disgusted more by those who are lukewarm towards Him. Maybe because it’s easier for a cold person to turn hot, than a lukewarm person to turn hot. Indifference is difficult to overcome. Many times we can get into a funk like this where it’s difficult to get excited about something. Even the person who has animosity towards God is excited about something. He’s just excited in the wrong way. So, you then have a chance to get him excited in the right way towards God.
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AV Colossians 3:17: “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, [do] all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.” What God wants is for us to do our best, and to do our best in Him. We are to do everything as we are doing it directly towards Him. This automatically calls us to an excellence that we wouldn’t otherwise strive for.
AV 2 Timothy 4:7: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished [my] course, I have kept the faith:” The confidence the Apostle Paul had at the end of his life was based on the knowledge that he had done his best in accomplishing the work God had set out for him to do. And he did this by yielding to the Spirit of God and allowing God to work through him. Part of the reason he was able to say this is what he recognized when he said, “I have finished my course.” When he said ‘my course’, it’s an acknowledgement that he was only called to finish his course, and not someone else’s course. This is actually comforting when we know this. It keeps us from comparing ourselves to others. There’s a work God has for each of us to do that is specific to us. When we face our future with this knowledge and allow ourselves to be led by God, we can have the same confidence as Paul and say, when we get to the end, “I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”
AV Hebrews 12:14: “Follow peace with all [men], and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:”
AV Revelation 3:15-16: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.”
AV Colossians 3:17: “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, [do] all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.”
AV 2 Timothy 4:7: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished [my] course, I have kept the faith:”