Away With Mediocre

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do,

do it with thy might....

Ecclesiastes 9:10a

As we have been having a house built, something has been running through my mind off and on and I mentioned it to my husband the other day. I have seen the tendency for years and it has bothered me all along. I did hope in those years, though, that something would happen to bring about some changes but as of yet, I haven't seen many of those changes occur with any noticeable difference. I realize that everyone's efforts cannot be put in the category of “mediocre,” but a great many can be.

This was all brought to a head for me several days ago when I opened Face Book and found a statement made by a dear friend from our former church, Hyde Park Baptist in Austin, TX. His name is Owen Griffin. I don't know when I have ever met a more well-rounded, accomplished man, especially in the area of music. He is organist of the church but plays the piano like few can do. He arranges music that is just awe-inspiring and has done some composing as well. There isn't a mediocre bone in Owens body and yet he walks humbly with His God. He wrote the following that I have since copied in my Bible as a reminder of what the resulting production in all areas of my life should be:

“I am sad to report that a dear friend has gone missing. I'm not sure what happened to him, but I've looked everywhere. I keep thinking I see him, but it's never him, just my wishful thinking. I've looked on the streets of my city, on TV, and in the halls of government. His name is Excellence, and he's most exceptional. If anyone sees him, please let me know. He's left quite a void.” ...Owen Griffin

That statement may mean nothing at all to most folks but it's one of the most convicting things I have read in a long time other than what I read in Scripture. There was a day in our country when people were admired for working hard and doing a good job. There was honesty and integrity found in almost every effort put forth by most people. My Dad was an auto mechanic. He never made much money at it but he was known as about the best mechanic around our town. He didn't cheat his customers. He took great pride in repairing a car as close to brand new as could be done. One could have looked at the result of his work and seen excellence even as he cleaned his greasy hands after the job was finished.

As we have been building our house, I have watched the little things. You see, Excellence always takes care of the little things. We have a cracked window that was cracked when the window was put in and it still is cracked as I write. It will be repaired I know but doesn't that cracked window bother anyone?

Let's do some defining and Merriam Webster will help us with this:

Mediocre: Of moderate or low quality

Ordinary, common, second rate

Excellence: Extremely high quality

First class, superior, high grade

If one wants to look at opposites, there we have it and we either fall into one of those categories or the other. There's no in between. Here is a big thing that really concerns me. Mediocre has almost become the norm when it comes to God's work. I could cite example after example of leadership in a church who should know better but who take the quick and easy way of doing things with no thought of excellence. Let me give a few examples that I've witnessed in the last 50 years in various churches where, at times, God was given mediocre service:

• Unrehearsed offertories
• Unprepared Sunday school lessons
  I recall a man rushing into our choir room one Sunday desperately looking for a
  Sunday school quarterly to teach his lesson from. No preparation had been done.
• Nursery workers who will let a baby lay in crib in a wet diaper
• Maintenance people who won't change light bulbs
• Soloists or other special music who aren't very gifted to begin with but who want to rehearse their special number five minutes before the service begins
• Choir members who don't feel they need to attend choir practice but show up in the choir loft on Sunday anyway. Then there are those who do show for practice who don't give their best effort in doing those things that need to be done while there.
• Sunday school workers who show up late. (God pity ANY church worker who can't show up on time to fulfill their responsibilities.)

Many of us who have been in church for years can relate to many of those things listed and could add a few. I'm afraid I have been guilty at times of settling for mediocre, but the older I have become, the less I want to be mediocre in what I do for the Lord. He deserves our very best and not just in the arena of the church. Our beginning verse uses the word “whatsoever” so that can include all that's done in the office, kitchen, yard, grocery store, etc. Whatever you and I lift our hands to, it should to be done with all of our strength and integrity and yes, with a spirit of excellence. God deserves no less. We will make mistakes but they should never be deliberate or planned.

A quick glance at the Old Testament sacrificial system should give us a clue as to God's expectations in what we offer Him in the present, whether with financial gifts or gifts of service. Back then, animal sacrifice was the order of the day. A blood offering was required for the remission of the people's sins and various animals were used for that. Look though, at what was expected. The animal had to be perfect in every way...no scars, skin disease, no broken bones, even healed ones...they had to be as perfect as possible. Why then today, would we serve Him in any other way than as perfect as possible.... with excellence?

May we aspire in ALL we do, to do it right, the best we can so as to present all we do to the Lord as an offering of love and adoration. May we glorify Him in every area of our lives. When that is in place, so will be excellence.

Father...With all You have done for me, how can I in good conscience give You the mere leftovers of my service and life itself. May I love You so much that I want to serve You in the spirit of Excellence leaving Mediocre out of my consideration. I love You and want You to have the best I can give. Amen.

Psalmist's Say It Best

That I may publish with the voice of

THANKSGIVING, and tell of all

thy wondrous works.

Psalm 26:7

Unto thee, O God, do we give THANKS,

unto thee do we give THANKS:  for that

thy name is near thy wondrous

works declare.

Psalm 75:1

It is a good thing to give THANKS unto

the Lord, and to sing praises unto

thy name, O most High:

To shew forth thy lovingkindness

in the morning, and thy faithfulness

every night.

Psalm 92:1,2

Enter into his gates with THANKSGIVING,

and into his courts with praise:  be

THANKFUL unto him, and bless his name.

For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting;

and his truth endrueth to all generations.

Psalm 100:4,5

O come, let us sing unto the Lord:  let

us make a joyful nolise to the rock of

our salvation.

Let us come before his presence with

THANKSGIVING, and make a joyful

noise unto him with psalms.

Psalm 95:1,2

Praise ye the Lord.  O give THANKS unto

the Lord; for he is good; for his

mercy endureth forever.

                                                                      Psalm 106:1

Governments may or may not decree a day of Thanksgiving.  It may be merely another day off for America's work force.  We may have good memories or sometimes negative ones regarding Thanksgiving Day.  For some it may be a very festive, big-family-gathering-time and for others, it may be a quiet time or even a lonely time.  Events and feelings on a day like Thanksgiving can run the gammit.  Thanksgiving Day will be what we as Christians make it.  If our day is full of festivities, football games, etc. with no alone time with God, the day then has just been another day. 

Originally, Thanksgiving Day was declared to be just that...a day to give thanks.  It's a day that goes back to our early settlers who all but died their first winter on this continent.  They survived with the help of friendly indians and they declared a time of thanksgiving to God for all of the blessings He had given them.  The further our country gets away from it's spiritual roots, the more danger there is in our losing our spiritual bearings and our spiritual holidays can become just that...holidays.

The sad thing is that for we Christians, every day should be Thanksgiving Day.  We don't need turkey and dressing to evoke our feelings of gratitude.  We just need to adopt an attitude of gratitude every day we live and breathe.  Our blessings are beyond bountiful and they keep coming.  So..."come ye thankful people come!!!"

Dear Father...the list is just too long.  I don't where to begin to thank You for all you mean to me and all you have done for me.  May I remain ever grateful, every day, in every way for everything.  I love You and thank You.   Amen

Can You Believe It?

Ah Lord God! Behold thou hast

made the heaven and the earth by thy

great power and stretched out arm, and

there is nothing too hard for thee:

Jeremiah 32:17

...With men this is impossible; but

with God all things are possible.

Matthew 19:26b

Not too far from where we live, there is a “Ripley's Believe It Or Not.” This particular peculiarity has been a part of Americana for many years. It had to happen that eventually, this icon of oddity would show itself in public display form of some sort. This local display isn't the only one to be found as there are other such “museums” across the country, especially where tourists gather.

However, allow me to mention some “believe it or nots” from Scripture. I believe for many years, we have almost been glossing over events in Scripture that even in our modern day would blow our minds if we heard of such things happening. Some things would be quietly kept within the confines of family and close friends, but there are some events that couldn't help but be very public and might even make our television evening news. We read of Bible events and almost shrug our shoulders as we move on to the next verses.

I think of Abraham being asked by God to sacrifice his son Isaac. I believe God really wanted to see if Abraham would be obedient and planned all the time to come to his rescue but Abraham didn't know that. Don't you think Abraham would have noticed a ram in the thicket next to the altar he built if there had been a ram in the vicinity when he arrived? God tested Abraham and when He saw Abraham's obedience, a ram appeared to take the place of Isaac. Ask Abraham if that wasn't a “believe it or not” incident in his life.

What about David and Goliath? We've heard of this event in David's life since we were old enough to sing, “Only a Boy Named David” in Sunday school. He was just a kid, a kid not only up against a grown man and enemy, but the enemy was a giant. David had a sling and a few stones. He didn't have a rifle, army tank, hand grenade....rocks...that was it. Come on now...if David's victory wasn't a “believe it or not”, I don't know what would be.

Then there are those three young guys who stood up to leaders of Babylon. They refused to bow down to the king and were condemned to die in a fired up furnace. As you read the incident, they didn't have to be dragged to the door of the furnace. They had such faith in God that He would take care of them that in they just went. After so much time, they were allowed out of the furnace...yep, not even the smell of smoke on them. Observers had also noticed a fourth man in the furnace. We know that was the Lord Himself in there with those young men. Today, these guys would be writing books and on promotion tours speaking about this event....no, on second thought, I don't think they would, for with their character and integrity, they wouldn't have wanted to take one ounce of glory from God.

Along with them, we have to mention Daniel. Ever been to a zoo and taken a good look at lions in their special outdoor landscaped pens. Their roar is enough to make my blood run cold. Daniel had been found praying in a public way when he had orders not to. Because of that, he was condemned to a lions den. Let's be real. The lion keepers didn't exactly feed those lions well or throw a lot of food in the den with Daniel....Daniel was to be their steak dinner. The next morning though, there sat Daniel with all of those kitty cats with not a scratch on him. Today, the news would read “believe it or not.”

There are  many other incidents in our Bibles that are so remarkable. The list would be a very lengthy one if we listed all of the miraculous events that are beyond human understanding. What about:

• The children of Israel going across the Red Sea on dry land...no mud to be seen.
• A mob of people on a hillside being fed with only five loaves and 2 fishes
• Anyone that was raised from the dead
• An earthquake that opened prison doors to free Paul. An earthquake is a public event.
• Destruction by fire of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah
• Are we so used to all of these evens that we no longer sit back in wonder. I realize we believe God can do anything. The Bible itself is a miracle, no matter what physical form it takes... it is a miraculous book. It has been kept and preserved down through the centuries and is still THE all time best seller...miraculous in itself.

But the greatest miracle of all was not that Jesus was born under very unusual and miraculous circumstances although that was miraculous. It didn't have to do with His miracles of healing, feeding or walking on water as wonderfully miraculous as they were. For me personally is the miracle is that He chose to die for me...yep, me with all my sin, faults, warts, and attitudes. For me...this is the greatest of the greatest and if that weren't enough, three days later, He came out of the tomb his friends had lovingly put Him in after His death.  I guess we believe this would make today's headlines, but I have serious doubts about that. Look at all the trouble the Romans went to in order to cover up what happened at that tomb. The world today would probably respond the same. All in all, what Jesus chose to do for you and me was the greatest “believe it or not” that we will never comprehend.

The next time we read our Bibles, let's view it's miraculous events with a little more appreciation of the greatness and might of our God Who can do anything. If He can do all of those things in the lives of those recorded for us, think of all He stands by waiting to do for us. Better yet, let's remember our own miracles brought about through our miracle-working God. We've all had them...it's just that they would never make the evening news, but they were miracles none-the-less. The same God who worked in the lives we see on pages of Scripture is the same God Who works on our behalf. We are such blessed people...believe it or not!!!

Thank You Father for the wonderful ways You have made Yourself known in my life. For every ounce of protection and provision, I thank You. For the miraculous way You have worked in my life, thank You. I love You. Amen

STALE AS SEVEN-DAY-OLD BREAD

That ye might walk worthy of the Lord

unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every

good work, and increasing in the

knowledge of God.

Colossians 1:10

My Grandma had come for an afternoon visit.  I was about five years old at the time, but this is one of those Norman Rockwell scenes that stays in one's mind.  She had broken a hip several weeks earlier.  I had never been around someone who walked with crutches and  I found that to be fascinating.  Our house had a good sized pantry with a window in it that let in lots of sunshine.  Grandma went into the pantry to get some cornbread for a snack.  When she found it, she called out to my Mother, "This cornbread is as stale as seven-day-old bread."  I didn't know what stale was, but knew from that exchange that it wasn't good. 

I'll never forget what Grandma did next.  She sent me to get a big iced tea glass from my Mother.  Meanwhile, she cut a big piece of that stale cornbread and crumbled it in the tall glass.  She got sugar out of a canister and spooned some on top of the cornbread.   Then my Mother brought in a glass bottle of milk.  Grandma poured milk on the cornbread until the milk came to the top of the glass.  She took an iced tea spoon from a drawer and began to eat that mixture.  She gave me a bite of it and I didn't like it, but she ate it like I would eat a dish of ice cream.  I will always picture her leaning against the cabinet facing the sun that seemed to make her gray hair shimmer while eating her mixture of whatever.

Grandma made something that was good to her out of something that may have seemed useless to anyone else.  As I thought of this incident, I kept coming back to the word "stale".  When something is stale it's something perishable that hasn't been used for what it was intended in an expected span of time and perhaps has become dry and hard. 

Guess what?  Our spiritual life is never meant to become stale.  There's no date of expiration on our walk with the Lord and our maintaining a life that is spiritually strong but a staleness can still set in that can render us all but useless for a time. Paul wrote to the Colossians regarding his desire for them in their relationship with the Lord.  In Colossians 1:10,  Paul presented the Christian life as being a very active one, and not an activity that is something with no depth.  When we don't maintain our spiritual walk, we are of about as much use as seven-day-old bread.

I have felt very convicted along this line as of late.  I will use the usual excuse most give, "I've been pretty busy."  Oh, I haven't totally neglected my spiritual walk, but I have been neglectful in spots.  As a Sunday school teacher, I always fight the tendency to read my Bible with teaching in mind and not in thinking of personal application. 

Today while sitting in my special place by the stream, Colossians 1:10 about knocked me over.  It was a real inventory time as I viewed the three major areas of that verse with regard to my own spiritual life.  Paul had strong desires for the people he was writing to, which carries over to us in our day.  God has the same desire for us today.  There are three major things mentioned in this one verse that are vital if our spiritual life is to remain fresh.  (Believe me, I'm not just throwing this in your court.  I am still going over these things for myself.)

1.  "That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing..."

Looking at Greek meanings for the word "walk," I found that it can mean making ones way, progressing, or making use of opportunities.  Walking is movement...it is usually the process of taking steps, one by one, moving forward toward a desired end.  The word "walk" here indicates constant motion, a consistency in our walk with the Lord that is very pleasing to Him.  Walking takes a personal determination, time and effort which in the end renders us spiritually healthy.  As we walk in Christ, we become stronger in Him and He is happy about that.

2.  "...being fruitful in every good work,"...

As a Christian, I am to be productive.  I am to be a witness for the Lord which can occur through spoken words as well as through a life lived.  Any contribution you and I can make through our word or service for the Kingdom is fruit.  Fruit doesn't just happen.  Seeds are planted, seedlings are watered and tended.  I may not reap the fruit from a seed I plant, but only be a part of the process.  I am called to be a fruit-bearing Christian and that's a part of who I am to be as a follower of Jesus.

3.  "...and increasing in the knowledge of God."

If we have been Christians for many years, we may get to the point where we feel we know about God as much as we can know.  Sure, we can gather alot of facts.  That's one kind of knowing but those facts don't mean that I really KNOW Him.  I know alot about the life of Billy Graham but I've never met him and don't know him personally.  It's a different kind of "know."  My knowledge about God should contribute to my personal relationship with Him.  I will never come to fully know God but I should be so abiding in Him that my knowledge is very personal.  Ours isn't meant to be a pursuit of frustration.  Our seeking to know God is meant to be an ongoing pursuit of love.

By the way, read verses 11-14 in that same chapter where there is more information regarding our wonderful Heavenly Father.

 We can become as spiritually stale as a seven-day-old loaf of bread.  We can even go on looking good spiritually to others.  After all, a stale loaf of bread on a cabinet shelf looks like a regular loaf of bread until opened or touched and then the real problem is revealed.  May we be ever fresh in our relationship with the Lord.  As for myself, when I become spiritually stale (and hopefully that doesn't happen with regularity), I pray God will help me learn that in my repentance, He'll turn my staleness into something that is a blessing  just like Grandma's concoction was for her.

Dear Father...I love you and want to know you better than I've ever known You in the past.  May I love being in Your presence whether in prayer or contemplative meditation.  Keep me alert to Your still, small voice as You seek to lead me in the ways that please you.  Forgive me for ever allowing a spiritual staleness to set in...keep me fresh.        Amen.