Goodness: Spiritual Excellence

"How great is Your goodness, which You have stored up for those who fear You, which You have wrought for those who take refuge in You, before the sons of men!" -Psalm 31:19

Spiritual excellence... for a true example we must turn to Christ Jesus, the only perfect human, God incarnate. A life that is devoted to God, and does not allow other things to overcome that devotion... It's hard to imagine taking on such an arduous task in today's overly-distracted society, but I believe that it is something that can be accomplished by the faithful follower. However, it is not our own efforts that would ever accomplish this... it must be done through great reliance on God and through His strength.

I have tried many times to accomplish the things that are of God, without falling at His feet and begging His mercies upon my efforts, but they always fail in my own strength. The same is true of goodness, in the form of spiritual excellence, being developed in our lives... The things of the Spirit must be accomplished through the work of the Spirit in our lives. I cannot stress this point often enough. Friends, I've already tried to do these things in my own strength and I'm here to tell you that it doesn't work!

Spiritual excellence will only be found in time spent in prayer, meditation upon God's Word, reading the Scriptures, hearing the Word of God preached, or basically in time that is spent with God as the focus... You cannot expect it to grow like a plant... you water it every so often, but mostly you just let it do its own thing. That's not how to become excellent in anything! Professionals, in any given field, are not the ones who sit back and are very neutral about their occupations... No, the professionals are the ones who dissect and rethink their occupations from every angle, becoming more proficient from every aspect of what they do. They strive for excellence!

Don't misread what I'm writing, I'm not telling you to become a "Professional Christian" but rather a professional student of the Word of God. Be eager to learn, eager to understand more and more about this God that we serve!

Back to the issue of spiritual excellence... what does it look like in our lives? Goodness from a spiritual standpoint would look like the development of fruit of the Spirit which are not necessarily outwardly displayed... like peace, patience, even love to some degree... Cultivating these fruits in our lives will inevitably cause us to be more like our heavenly Father. This is the ultimate goal of spiritual excellence, is being more like Christ in our relationship with God. Jesus spent a lot of time in prayer and spent time alone with His Father... this is an example for us to follow.

Basically, spiritual excellence is the inward sign of our relationship with Christ and is a testimony to the difference that should be evident in our lives. I probably could have just written that and left everything else out for today, but I tend to expand on a point to the extent that I begin to see it bursting at the seams!

So, tomorrow we will look at how goodness is developed as moral excellence in our lives.
Friends, I would encourage you to strive for spiritual excellence first and foremost in your lives... become the Child of God that you were created to be!

Grace and Peace!


Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com .