Good Enough

"And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ."
Colossians 3:23-24

It is so easy to just coast. Ever notice that? The easiest thing to do is just be mediocre, to just go along with the flow, to blend in. To just meet the standard, to just do what is required and no more. To reach the quota and then shut down. When I was working in the marketplace, I found that it was so easy to just do my job and go home. Day in and day out. A life of being "good enough." It wasn't especially fulfilling, but hey, it was good enough. It was what was required of me at my workplace. The thing is, that has never been in me, to just do what was required and leave. God has put something in me that drives me to do that little extra, to put in a little extra effort, to rise above the standard. Because whatever I do in my life, I am not doing for me, but for the Lord, because it is Him whom I serve.

Living our lives for the Lord can be much more fulfilling than the mediocrity that we label as "good enough." We were not created for mediocrity. In fact, Pastor and Bible teacher Chuck Swindoll was inspired to write a book entitled "Living Above the Level of Mediocrity." We are called to be so much more than mediocre. The rest of the world can be mediocre if it wants to, but not believers. Why? Because we serve a risen Lord, and it is for Him that we work, and live, and breathe, and have our being. When we come to Him, we lay down ourselves, and our rights, and our pride, and our lives, and we submit to Him. He is our Lord! And it is a wonderful thing. It is Him whom we serve. We are called to rise above the level of mediocrity that the world would have us buy into. We are created to soar high above all of that, because what we do is not for us or for man, but for our Lord.

I have had the opportunity to work with a lot of different people in the local church setting since I have been a Christian, and still to this day, it amazes me how many Christians do something according to the standard of the world, just good enough. Beloved, let me encourage you, and remind you, that whatever we do, we don't do it for ourselves, we do it for Jesus Christ our Lord. We are to do it heartily unto Him. For me, that raises the standard a little, because out of a heart of love for Him, I want to do the best that I can possibly do for Him. I don't want to present something to Him that is just "good enough." I want to present to Him the best that I possibly can. Not because it will earn me something, but because I love Him so much that I want to be and do the best. As the slogan for one of the branches of our armed services said, I want to be all I can be. Not for me, but for Him. Amen? Amen.