The Best There Is

Read: Philippians 3:10-15


I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

                                            Philippians 3:14 

     I often think about how I can do a lot of things fairly well, but I am not the best at any of them. I always want to be the best, but there is always somebody (usually a whole lot of “somebodies”) that are much better than me. Most of it is because I just lack the talent to be the best. I will never be the fastest runner because I was not built with tremendous speed. I will never be the best football player because I don’t have amazing football abilities, and I would be starting way too late in life to become the best. I will never be the best photographer or singer or musician or athlete, mostly because I just lack the raw talent to get me to that position.  Perhaps you feel the same way about yourself.

     We are tempted to believe the same thing of our spiritual life. We always think that we could never be the best Christian there is. However, there is nothing that should be holding us back from being the best Christian alive. Being a great Christian does not take talent. It does not take a special ability. It does not take a large amount of money to get you into a place where you can train to be a great Christian. It only takes a sincere dissatisfaction with who we are, a strong determination to do what it right, and a single desire to really know the Lord and to be the best Christian we can be.

     Not one person alive can hold the title “the very best” at anything without a lot of hard work being added to the talent that is already present. In fact, a common sports mantra is that hard work with less talent beats talent when that talent doesn’t work hard.  Being a great Christian is no different. Some people have a much bigger head start on being a great Christian because they have grown up in church, but when that person is depending upon his Christian roots to lead him into a grand spiritual life, he will fall well-short of a person who may not have had all the advantages but who really desires to know Christ. It doesn’t matter what advantages or disadvantages you have toward being an outstanding Christian. The amazing thing about Christianity is that someone with zero athletic ability and no natural talent could become an unbelievably strong Christian. Anyone with a true desire to be the best Christian could make the sacrifices needed to become the greatest Christian today.

Quote of the day: “God doesn’t ask you to be the best – only to do your best.”