"Cheese Doodles"
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How are you doing with your resolutions? New Year's resolution #fails have become a familiar joke every January — only 9-12% of us hang on to them as we close the year[1]. Most have a half-baked "resolve" unworthy of calling "resolution," but that doesn't diminish the value of goals, even if we never achieve all our aspirations. Sure, we could vedge our life away with cheese doodles on the couch, but God created us to strive for growth. So as we shift our focus from God's gifts to virtues, let's pursue Christlike excellence.
The Big Idea
Though we're not perfect, we glorify God by stretching daily to be better and do better. Perfectionists lose their way, craving acceptance and chasing peace through flawlessness. But through Christ, we receive God's favor despite our faults (Eph. 2:4-10). We'll never reach God's perfection. But he "called us to his own glory and excellence" (2 Peter 1:3; 2:10) to imitate him (Matt. 5:48).
So "press on ... straining forward" (Phil. 3:12-14), growing "to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4:13). Hone your character, sharpen yourself (Eccl. 10:10). Make your life the masterwork you never tire of crafting in Christ's image (2 Cor. 3:18). Aspire to a "life ... worthy of the gospel" (Phil. 1:27).
Love is "the more excellent way" (1 Cor. 12:31ff), so may it "abound more and more ... so that you may approve what is excellent" (Phil. 1:9-10). And when you find "any excellence ... think on these things" (Phil. 4:8), noticing and appreciating it.
Sometimes "Whatever!" means we don't care. But Scripture says, "whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31)! If we long to hear "well done" from Christ who "has done all things well" (Mark 7:37), we'll try to "excel in everything ... in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness" (2 Cor. 8:7).
The Big Question
Where do you need to strive for greater excellence?
