Excellence in the Kingdom

Excellence defined is: "the state, quality, or condition of excelling". To excel is to surpass were you were, or to do better than you've done. It is a state of getting better all the time. Certainly, life will have its ups and downs, but you should have a trend line that shows improvement over the years.

Some good questions to ask to check up on your excellence:

1. Am I closer to God than I was this time last year?

2. Am I more dedicated than I was a year ago?

3. Am I more disciplined than I was last year?

Let's examine excellence as it relates to Devotion, Dedication, and Discipleship.

I. Devotion: How is my personal relationship with God? Do I pray everyday and spend time with Him, or is that only a Sunday event? Am I busy doing things for God, yet guilty of not spending quality time with Him? Everyone of us have to be careful of this one, especially those who are constantly doing kingdom work. It is easy to confuse "busy kingdom work" with "quality time" with God, but it is not the same.

I have struggled in this area myself, and it's easy to justify your actions by saying: "I'm busy doing God's work", but the truth is "if we don't spend time with Him, reading His Word, praying, and listening for Him to speak to us; we can NEVER be the leader that He wants us to be.

II. Dedication: is complete and whole-hearted devotion. Above I spoke of devotion to God, here I will speak of dedication to His body, the church. The first thing to note is that your dedication to the church will never be any deeper than your devotion to God. Your dedication to the church grows out of your devotion to God. He is the life-spring of all the good you will ever do.

In the light of what was just said: How is my dedication to His body? Do I attend as I should? Do I make excuses to be absent from His house when in reality I could be there? How is my giving? Am I tithing and giving as I should, or do I find myself using God's money for other things?

These are simple questions, but if answered honestly they will indicate our true level of dedication. Since our dedication grows out of our devotion, there may be a problem with our relationship with the Lord if our dedication is not what it should be.

III. Discipleship: A word that is akin to discipline. So it is reasonable for us to ask ourselves if we are more or less disciplined than we were a year ago. If we are seeking excellence in discipleship we should be in a constant state of learning. Although we will never reach the place where we know it all; we should be constantly learning more.

To be discipled one must avail themselves to the teachings of another. They must surrender to the coaching of a mentor; they must spend time with, and around the One they are following after. They must read and study about the One they are following after. They must assemble together with the family of the One they are following after. Are we doing this as we should?

Finally, if we are striving for excellence we will devote more of our time to God. In turn we will dedicate more time to His body, the church. By doing this we show that we are His disciples indeed.

Blessings!