"Did you do your best?"

What does it mean for someone to do their best?

A couple of weeks ago I had a conversation with my children about doing their best. I had noticed that during the course of a couple of weeks their were tasks which I had assigned to different individuals that were being left partially done or less than partially done. This particular conversation came about as one of my children was asked to sweep the kitchen floor after a meal. I noticed that after the job was done there were a few chunks of crumbs left on the floor. So I summoned this individual and asked if the floor was swept, to which this person replied, “yes, I did my best.” The thought came through my mind, “did this person do their best or did this person perform what I expected him or her to do.” From my observation, it appeared that this person performed at his or her own expectation. I think, as parents (or leaders), we have a tendency to lower the standard for our children when we expect them to perform at the level of “their best” rather than shooting for a standard of excellence or a standard which we set out for them.

In 1 Thessalonians 4:1, the apostle Paul exhorts the Thessalonian church in the following way, “Finally, then brothers we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to live and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more…” Paul understood grace and yet also knew that as believer’s we are called to a standard of living according to God’s standard, namely, holy living (1 Peter 1:15-16) and not our own. He would not ask the churches if they did their best. His question for the churches was always summed up in this way, “are you living according to the calling of which you’ve been called” (cf Eph 1:4; 4:1).

This is something as parents we must consider when we think about training our children. We don’t want to cross the line of exasperating them by expecting them to do something that they are physically, emotionally, or spiritually incapable of doing. But we should at least expect them to rise up to a level that is beyond their own expectation. They should be challenged to always pursue excellence in whatever they are asked to do. The natural tendency of every person is to live at a level of mediocrity. This is a consequence of our fallen condition. Therefore we should not only fight for pursuing excellence in all that we do; we should also be constantly guiding our family to go beyond what they think they are capable of doing.

Exchange Students and the Gospel

It’s been a week since our exchange student arrived from Germany. It has been quite a busy week with making adjustments to our schedule, but it has been well worth it. LaNae and I are learning a lot about the life of a teenager. He wakes up with nothing to say, but when it’s time to turn in for the night at around 9:30 pm, he is ready to talk about his day for the next hour or so. Needless to say we have had a few late nights getting to know this young man. Last night I had my first spiritual conversation with Julien, particularly as it related to Sunday mornings message from our pastor on the topic of “religion as the cause of problems around the world”. He agrees to an extent with this argument, but at the same time I asked him if he thought we were religious people. To which he replied, “yes”. Then I followed up with, “do you think we’re causing problems in the world?” He paused for a moment, then smiled and I think realized that the argument is a general statement that has no validity.

I decided that while he was here with us for the month of August (however we are praying about keeping him for the entire school year) we would go through the gospel of Mark for our family devotions. This was to give him a glimpse into the life and person of Jesus Christ. He actually looks forward to our Bible times in the evening. This evening we read Mark chapter 2 focusing on the story of the paralytic and the calling of Levi. The main point of our Bible time was that Jesus loves sinners and he wants to forgive them. He demonstrated both these truths in these stories. This theme forced me to answer the question of “who is a sinner” and “how does a sinner attain forgiveness?” It’s exciting because Julien has very little Bible background. In fact the only Bible story he is familiar with is David and Goliath. It seems like he’s open to having conversations about the Bible.

Please pray as we continue to show him the love of Christ both in the Scriptures and also through our lives.

The Immeasurable Riches of God's Grace

Early in the summer, I decided to give as a gift to the teachers in the Family and Children’s department the book The Cross Centered Life by C.J. Mahaney. Although the truths that Mahaney seeks to convey in this book are “basic” and fundamental to the Christian faith, he makes the application of these truths profound. His constant exhortation to remind his readers to think deeply of the gospel and to think daily of the gospel is critical in the process of sanctification. We can never exhaust our meditation on the gospel because for all eternity we will forever be reminded of the Lamb who was slain for our sins.

This morning as I was meditating through Ephesians chapter 2, I came across this verse: “…so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus…” This verse (Eph 2:7) struck me. Life has its many ups and downs. Our thoughts can be consumed by those things that affect our lives, whether prosperity or poverty, whether good or bad, or whether pain or pleasure. Pastoral ministry has its many highs and lows, and my mind can be consumed by either one. Part of the reason is because I love and care for the church so much. And when there are issues that I need to deal with related to the church, my mind gravitates towards wanting to fix it or develop a plan to make it right. But I am so thankful for passages like Ephesians chapter 2 where I am reminded that in God’s mercy and grace he chose to make me alive in Christ when I was once dead in my transgressions. I once lived my life according to the course of this world, but in God’s kindness he saved me by His grace. It is always refreshing and renewing to meditate on God’s saving work. Sometimes it’s hard to practically live it out in every day life. But this morning as I ran across verse 7, I was reminded that not only did God show his grace towards us in saving us. He will continue to unfold more of his grace towards us in the coming ages. Every unfolding of God’s grace will be refreshment to our soul in this life and in the life to come. We will never get tired of seeing God’s immeasurable grace unfold before our eyes. This is why we need to daily pray for God to show us not only evidence of grace in our own life, but also in the lives of others.

Can you identify glimpses of God’s grace in your children; maybe in the way they interact with their brothers and sisters or perhaps in how much more quickly they respond to your guidance and wisdom? Do you see glimpses of God’s work in your spouses’ life in the way they desire more and more each day to carry out the role of husband, wife, father or mother according the principles laid out in Scripture? If this is what we have to look forward to for all eternity, namely, the disclosing of God’s infinite grace, we must make it a pattern in our life to daily look for evidence of grace not only in our own life but also in the lives of others. When our first response is to identify evidence of grace in the life of others it will become easier for them to become our objects of joy because of God’s saving work in their life rather than burdens to bear.