As I write this, income tax season is upon us. It's a time when we see how much the government asks each of us to contribute to the common good and whether we haven't given enough or too much. That's a charitable way to look at it, yes? Most of us have some negative feeling when we see how much we have or still need to pay for income tax.
Maybe you commiserate with your friends and complain in frustration, "If the government is going to take that much from every new dollar, why even push harder? Why even try?" If you say that, as I have, then you don't really mean it. You still want to push hard and get yourself and what you do to the next level.
Whether we're talking about taxation, societal pressures or organizational culture, there truly is a point at which it becomes incredibly difficult to justify giving your best. You will struggle to find rational, practical reason to give your absolute best to produce the best you can and keep pushing things to the next level.
That's why there's a tang ping ("lie flat") movement among young adults in China. That's why we have the term "quiet quitting" circulating in North America.
But you know if you give in to this, something important in you will die.
Is it just because you're ambitious and always have been? Because you're special in that way?
That's part of it. It doesn't take long to recognize as a leader every group of human beings includes those who are intrinsically motivated to push to the front, others who hang at the rear, and the majority who are somewhere in the middle and can be influenced to move closer to one side or the other. You're probably one of those who push to the front in what you do.
In that way you're special. You recognize and feed the part of you that wants to excel.
But the other side that is common to us all is God made us each to excel. God doesn't make losers, only unique human beings made to excel and show his glory. But many either choose or are led to believe they are less than exceptional in some important way, that they are made, prepared and placed to bless others in some way only they can.
Excellence is godly, and seeking excellence is a drive God has placed in all of us. It's why we appreciate beauty because in all its forms it is an expression of excellence.
Yet we are each made to excel in different ways. That diversity in the tapestry God weaves with us, our lives, and all of history, is part of the beauty and excellence he demonstrates.
Let's look at David, Solomon and Paul from the Bible. Each of these men excelled in different ways.
David was a poet, musician, warrior, and king. He was a warrior-poet par excellence. He openly and unceasingly loved God in all that he did, including his quickness to repent of his sin. He set an example for us all in what it means to love God with all our hearts.
Solomon was Israel's most powerful king, with God-given wisdom, fame and fortune. The nation of Israel under his kingship showed the kings and nations around them what a good king - one who excelled at ruling and leading with unmatched wisdom - could do to bless and lift up his people.
Paul was an academic powerhouse with intellectual crunching power matched only by the passion and zeal in his heart. If ever there was an example of someone powerfully driven by both head and heart, both logos and pathos, it is Paul.
1 Peter 2:9 says, "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."
It means much more than just that you are created for excellence, but it also means at least that. You proclaim the excellencies of him who called you with both word and action. You tell others declarative truth of who God is, what he is like and what he has done. You also tell others practical truth through what you are like and what you do.
Moreover, we read in Colossians, "Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ."
When Christ called you, he called you to life. As he called Lazarus, raising him from death to life, Jesus did the same for you. Not only spiritually for salvation, but also for all that you do. As Lazarus not only breathed again and opened his eyes, he rose, walked out, and by doing so showed God's glory to all who saw him.
You are called to excellence.
God made, crafted, prepared, and placed you to do so in order to be a unique blessing to others and to show his glory to all who see you do what you do.
You resist the entropic call to simply lie down and stop pushing. Not just because it goes against your ambition and drives, even your sense of what is right and proper, but also because it goes against the life and spirit God has placed in you anew.
As your Father in heaven creates, blesses, and acts with excellence, so you are to do likewise. As Jesus the Son brought glory to the Father with his obedience and perfect walk with the Father, so you are to do likewise. As one purchased with the blood of Christ, you have the Holy Spirit within you, who will remind you always of the good works in store for you since before you were born.
Come what may, you know you have a fire within you to be excellent in what you do. God gave you that fire.
Ensure you apply that fire to what God truly wants you to do, that it is consistent and aligned with your identity in Christ. That way you experience true and lasting fulfillment.
That fulfillment will never be taxed, but only continues to grow.
Soli Deo Gloria.
Yπερνικᾶτε ἐν Χριστῷ. "Let us go be more than conquerors in Christ"