Have I done my best?
Growing up my parents always taught me to ‘just do your best’ because that’s what matters. It did not matter if it was a competition, contest, or test: the pressure was not to win, but rather to do my best. My efforts were compared to the standard of what I was capable of accomplishing, as opposed to the standard someone else had established. I always knew as long as I had given my best I could feel satisfied with my effort. Sometimes my best was good enough to win, other times it wasn’t and someone else was the champion. Even in defeat, there was the consolation of knowing I had done my best.
Many people profess to do their best, but most are only kidding themselves. How do you know for sure if you have done your best? The true litmus test of best is simply this question: Could you have done better? It is a great feeling knowing you have done your best.
If best is accurately defined as the superlative of good, the greatest degree of excellence, and the maximum effort possible, then the truth is most of us rarely do our best! We typically hold back and keep something in reserve. We do good work and maybe even very good work, but seldom do we do our best. I recently asked an audience to raise their hands as high as they could. The audience responded by raising their hands high. Next, I asked them to raise them even higher. Surprisingly, nearly everyone in the room raised them a little higher, clearly indicating they had not given their best effort when first requested. Had I asked a third time I am confident they would have raised them even higher. This illustrates perfectly the way much live life.
Have you ever considered what God expects of us? What would God consider to be our best effort? It seems obvious God expects our best. This begs the question: Have I done my best? If I can do better, I haven’t done my best. In the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, Jesus commended the servants who multiplied their talents with the commendation: ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant.’ If they had not done well Jesus would not have said well done. Jesus commended them for doing their best! Jesus has given each of us talents: the question remains whether or not we do our best with what we have been given. Jesus will not say well done if we have not done well.
Good is the enemy of best. We get excited about good church, good offerings, good worship, good fellowship, good outreach, good Bible study, good messages, and good prayer. However, good is simply not good enough for God! God has never and will never be content with good, mediocre, normal, average, traditional, status quo church or service. Only the best will do!
I am afraid many Christians are only mediocre or average, which God finds disheartening. If someone classified me as mediocre or average I would consider it an insult. Are you no more than an average Christian? Are you best described as a mediocre child of God? I do not think that will be acceptable on Judgment Day.
According to John Mason, “mediocrity is a region bound on the north by compromise, on the south by indecision, on the east by past thinking, and on the west by a lack of vision.” Adequate, common, dime a dozen, everyday, general, humdrum, fair, fair to middling, lukewarm, not bad, okay, passable, ordinary, run of the mill, so-so, tolerable, undistinguished… all pitifully describe the term average. Do not allow yourself to find these distinctions acceptable.
Ask yourself the question today: Have I done my best for Jesus? Can I do better? One of my favorite axioms that challenge people to do better comes from Tim Duncan: Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is best! God gave you His very best; can you return anything less than your best?
