Excellence!

"The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work 

and gained five bags more." Matthew 25:16

Recently a friend of mine was talking to me about excellence. She had been thinking about it and realized that in all her years of life, she didn't excel in pretty much anything. Life has gone by and she's been too busy taking care of the daily cares of life, but never excelling at even that. Her house doesn't look like the ones on Better Homes and Gardens, she didn't go as far in her studies as she would like to have gone, all her hobbies and projects eventually come to a stand still, and even the talents that God has given her are not developed to their full capacity.

This got me thinking about excellence. Sometimes we compare excellence with success, and most of the times they're related but not always. You can be a successful person without excelling at what you do. I'm not sure you can excel at something without being successful.

The Bible tells the story of a man who went on a trip, and before going he gave 3 of his servants some money. He already knew their abilities, so to one he have 5 bags of gold, to another 2 bags of gold, and to his other servant he gave 1 bag of gold. He knew what each one could handle at the time and distributed the bags accordingly. At once, the man with the 5 bags of gold and the one with the 2 bags of gold put their money to work and as a result they received more bags of gold. The man with the 1 bag of gold hid the money in the dirt.

When the boss returned from his trip, the servants shared with their boss what they had done with the gold they had been given. The boss was happy with two of the servants, but angry at the one who had hid the money in the dirt.

This parable is used to illustrate several things, but one of them is excellence. God has given each of us gifts and abilities. The men with the 5 and 2 bags of gold received what they had been given and worked to make it even better and more abundant. In doing that they improved their skills and strengthened their character, but also gave even more to their boss who showed appreciation in return and entrusted them with more. The man with the 1 bag, by hiding it in the dirt, didn't improve anything. He just stayed the way he was. It didn't make a difference in his life or in the life of others. It was just there. As a result, his boss took that 1 bag of gold away from him.

So what do you do with what God has given you? Do you work on your abilities and projects, putting the time, effort, and perseverance until they are completed to their best or do you just work at them enough to maintain them the way they are? Are you constantly working on making life better to you and yours, or are you too busy taking care of the daily cares of life? Is there something you wished you would do but just don't want to put the time and effort it needs? We have a saying that says, if you don't use it you loose it. The Bible agrees with that saying. If you don't use what God has given you to the best of your abilities, eventually you will loose it.

Are you giving God your best?  In what do you excel?