Years ago I was a member of a workgroup Bible study. The group leader asked each group member to share a study of a favorite scripture. Most of the group would wing it or have their presentations written on small cheat notes. At the time I used a program for the Logos Bible that had a lesson builder and of course I made copies of the lesson for each participant.
Now, I am no theologian, and don’t have the best memory, but what I strive for is the spirit of excellence. The spirit of excellence is totally different than doing things perfectly. The spirit of excellence means that whatever you do, you give your all and your best. You go that extra mile and you never stop at just “alright.” You work toward excellence even if no one is watching, judging, or grading.
For example, maybe you are not a solo singer. If you can sing though, you can join or start a choir, a quartet, a group or just come to church and join your voice with the corporate body of Christ. What matters is singing with gusto and all that’s within you. So what if you cannot play the keyboard or the drums, can you play a brass or woodwind instrument, can you clap your hands? Maybe you are not a boss but you can be the best employee that your boss has. Can you talk or write – then write and read your poetry, share a Bible scripture, give your testimony. Do you have an expressive face and movements? Then mime. Are you good at doing hair? Remind someone of how special they are because God knows the number of hairs on their head. Or are you good at body building, strength training or exercising? Encourage others that they are fearfully and wonderfully made and they can be their very best.
You may not have what it takes to be a pastor, but you can support the pastor’s vision. Sometimes we may not be the one right out front, but the ministry of helps is always looking for “help” so do like the Nike slogan and Just Do It.
But guess what? Nike was not the first one to encourage us to give it all we have.
Deuteronomy 30:11-14 (MSG) says:
This commandment that I’m commanding you today isn’t too much for you, it’s not out of your reach. It’s not on a high mountain—you don’t have to get mountaineers to climb the peak and bring it down to your level and explain it before you can live it. And it’s not across the ocean—you don’t have to send sailors out to get it, bring it back, and then explain it before you can live it. No. The word is right here and now—as near as the tongue in your mouth, as near as the heart in your chest. Just do it!
Martin Luther King, Jr.- once said,
“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michael Angelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”
SO, whatever your hands find to do, do it with all your might just as if you were working for the Lord.