It’s what the pastor talked about on Sabbath.

Excellence: Outstanding. The very best. Good unto its kind.

The pastor continued. “Excellent things do what they were intended to do.”

God created (and creates) excellent things. And what more example than you and I, created in His excellent image? Are we doing what we were intended to do?

A poignant quote shared by the pastor:

[We] erroneously confuse excellence with extravagance. …By and large, if the theology of a ministry is conservative so is its architecture. And its furniture. And its appointments. And its equipment. And its salaries. And its honorariums. Even its style smacks of leftovers, afterthoughts, hand-me-downs, and secondhand stuff.”

– Charles Swindoll

Are we providing God with the perfect lamb, without blemish or spot, or are we bringing the leftovers? Am I giving of my best to the Master?

This has been on my heart all week. As I reach the 6-weeks-to-go-HALLELUJAH mark of my current job assignment, I wonder what’s next for me. I wonder if what I’m doing now is the best offer of my time and talents to the greater goal and greater scope of God’s intentions. I wonder if my daily pep talks to get myself to work in the mornings are due to laziness, or discontent, or a calling to do something more, something else. I wonder if I work to earn money to support my own pleasures under the guise of “responsible saving”, or if I am responsibly directing funds where God would wish them to be.

I constantly hash and rehash these thoughts, and ultimately remind myself of this:

I am excellent.
I am created in the image of the excellent Lord of the universe.
I have potential to do good by the talents God has entrusted to my stewardship.
I am to give the best of myself, my efforts, my resources, and my time to God’s purposes.

Excellent things do what they were intended to do. And I’m seeking to do just that.