Best – “of the most excellent, effective, or desirable type or quality; finest, greatest top, foremost, leading, premier, prime, first, chief, principal, supreme, superlative, par excellence, unrivaled, second to none, without equal, unsurpassed, peerless, matchless, unparalleled, unbeaten, unbeatable, optimum, optimal, ultimate, incomparable, ideal, perfect.”
Recently I have been thinking a lot about heading home; it’s like I can subconsciously sense the day is coming soon. It is exciting and also extremely daunting to enter into a new phase of life, but after spending a total of 16 months abroad (that’s weird to think!) I believe that the Lord has given me and taught me many things to use when I get home.
Last January I wrote a post about being royalty – about how I knew that I was a princess and daughter in the eyes of the Lord, but I wasn’t exactly sure how that applied to me yet. Here is the response to that blog:
Yes, I am a princess. I am daughter of the Most High King – daily lavished upon with blessings that far exceed my expectations – BUT I am given the best by the Lord so, in turn, I can give my best back to Him.
But what on earth does “giving your best” mean as a Christian?
I think one of the first things that we have to realize is that we can only do our best if we are depending on the Lord to make it the best. One movie clip that I believe describes the limitations that we place on ourselves is from “Facing the Giants” when the coach makes one of the most influential players do the Death Crawl to “the best he can.” The player first agrees to do his best, but the coach keeps pushing the limits. The player gets hesitant, realizing the size of the feat that he would have to accomplish, but he takes the challenge. Right before he goes to start, his coach blindfolds him so that he won’t be hindered by his perception of progress.
That blindfold was perfect: sometimes we see feats and define them by our human capabilities, subconsciously ruling out how much better it could be if we include the Lord in our plans. The Old Testament is full of battle stories where the odds look stacked against the Lord’s army, then God makes it more impossible, just so He can show them how much more they can do. I don’t think that this only applied to the Old Testament. We need to include God in our plans more so we can see the ACTUAL “best” happen.
Second, I believe that we have to realize we can do NOTHING to earn the Lord’s favor, because it is already 100 percent ours. Giving my best doesn’t mean that I get “Christian points” as much as it means that I am stewarding the gifts that the Lord has given me. One song that reminds me of this is called “A Little Longer” by Bethel Music. The lyrics say this:
What can I do for You
What can I bring to You
What kind of song would You like me to sing
‘Cause I’ll dance a dance for You
Pour out my love to You
What can I do for You, beautiful King
‘Cause I can’t thank You enough
‘Cause I can’t thank You enough
Then hear you saying to me
Listen you, don’t have to do a thing
Just simply be with me
and let those things go
‘Cause they can wait another minute
Wait, this moment is too sweet
Would you please stay here here with me
And love on me a little longer
Only after we realize that our best cannot be done alone can we truly give our “first fruits” back to the Lord.
Ephesians 2:8-10 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Giving your best simply means that you are stewarding what the Lord gave you to every task you have at hand. It means that it is an outpour of what the Lord has already done in your life. It means that the Lord is the sole motivation for our actions. It means that we remove “good enough” from our vocabulary. It means that you are not content with doing just enough. And it doesn’t mean that you are taking the best for yourself! Give it away!
