X is for Excellence

And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.

2 Peter 1:4 (NLT)

God made great and marvellous promises, so that his nature would become part of us. Then we could escape our evil desires and the corrupt influences of this world.

2 Peter 1:4 (CEV)

The Pursuit Of Excellence: continued

I've been thinking a little more about that meeting at the weekend on strengthening our faith, in an effect to become more like Jesus (I blogged about this a few days ago).

Philippians 4:8 (NIV)
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.

There's the word 'excellent' again! It's clear that we should be thinking of 'excellent' things (virtuous, praiseworthy). Because if your mind is full of negatives (criticism of others, your own weaknesses) or wrong thoughts (greed, worry, lust) that's what your life will be filled with... whereas if we want to achieve excellence, we need to think of higher things, better things - excellent things.

One further observation: the word 'think' at the end of the verse implies deep contemplation. Some translations show this as 'meditate'. I like the word 'ponder'. Whatever. Let your mind dwell on it. Get your mindset right!

I came across this quote on the web by D. Martyn Lloyd–Jones on Matthew 6:25-34, where he comments on the subject of faith and thinking:

"Faith, according to our Lord’s teaching in this paragraph, is primarily thinking; and the whole trouble with a man of little faith is that he does not think. He allows circumstances to bludgeon him. That is the real difficulty in life. Life comes to us with a club in its hand and strikes us upon the head, and we become incapable of thought, helpless and defeated. The way to avoid that, according to our Lord, is to think."

The Pursuit Of Excellence

2 Peter 1:5-7 (NIV)

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.

Quite a shopping list, eh? These verses were shared during today's meeting - we were reviewing the subject of 'stretching our faith' from this year's Commitment Sunday cards - and there was plenty said during that meeting for me to reflect on this week.

Let's take the word 'goodness' for example: the New Living Translation actually uses the term 'moral excellence'. And, after some further study when I got home, I found a whole host of different words in a variety of scripture translations, all trying to best describe that particular quality:

'virtue' —KJV, NEB, Berkeley

'moral character' —Williams

'manliness' —Helen Montgomery (The Centenary Translation)

'noble character' —Weymouth

'integrity' - God's Word translation

'real goodness of life'—Phillips

It was the word 'excellence' that initially captured my interest. We are often told for our need to strive for excellence in our working lives - so why not in our Christian lives? Actually, the sort of 'excellence' we often look for as Christians is often the same one we seek in our secular lives - a concept all wrapped up in modern day stats, in achieving standards.

After some reflection, I am more drawn to something that is best defined as 'moral character', as we seek to become more and more Christ-like as we follow Him through His teachings.And I like the use of the word 'integrity'... I've blogged on this before. 

Where to start? First thing to have is faith... These things are all built on our faith. 

More later...