“There will always be opportunities, so consider each activity alongside your ability to give it your best.”
Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – July 1, 2024
She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. Mark 14:8
God expects your best—nothing more, nothing less. Your best plus God’s best is a productive combination, but be careful not to fall into the false belief that God will take care of everything without your effort or that you can take the stress of everything on your shoulders without inviting God in. Neither is healthy nor right. He simply expects your best and He understands your limitations. Your stage of life, giftedness, experience, availability, and wisdom all determine your capacity. The capacities of others will be more or less than yours; so do not make them your standard. Instead, steward extremely well what God has given you.
There will always be opportunities, so consider each activity alongside your ability to give it your best. Do not commit under duress, knowing that your ability to deliver is sorely limited. Instead, have confidence in God to say no now in preparation for yes later. Your best will dwarf some other’s best, while it will look like a pygmy in the shadow of someone else’s best. One scenario of superiority leads to pride and the other of perceived underachievement leads to discouragement. Self-flagellation will not gain you points with God or people. They will replace respect for you with pity. On the other hand, do not become puffed up over your best. There is always another person who has done or will do better. Rest in the fact that you have glorified God and brought others into His intoxicating influence.
Your best mixed with God’s best is dynamic. Yes, you have limitations and you can only do what you can do, but with God, all things are possible. He can arrange circumstances, relationships, and resources that intersect with your best. Suddenly, your best plus God’s best plus the best of others leverages outcomes you never dreamed possible. Your $1,000 given to teach abstinence to teens will yield one result, but that same gift combined with $100,000 will far exceed a one-hundredfold result.
Your decision to do less may accomplish a lot more because your creation of best practices will multiply exponentially. Why settle for the wilderness of simple addition when you can celebrate the promised land of complex multiplication? Your best is a valuable resource, so use it for others and to serve God’s Kingdom. The more you exercise your best, the better you become. Your best may become the best; by God’s grace you can be a genius in your field. You can become an expert at what you do, so do what you can, and devote your best to the Lord.
The Bible says, “The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God at Gilgal” (1 Samuel 15:21).
Prayer
Heavenly Father, grow my gifts and skills to meet Your expectations and reach my potential.
Application
What does it look like for me to elevate to my best effort with a pending project or needy person?
Related Reading
1 Samuel 10:7; Ecclesiastes 9:10; 2 Timothy 2:15; Galatians 6:9
Today’s reading is taken from Boyd’s most popular book: Seeking Daily the Heart of God, a 365 day devotional.
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