Let’s do better …

So many Christians and church leaders who sincerely long to pour out their lives in service to Jesus Christ often exhaust or “burn” themselves out by always looking at what more they could do for Christ and His kingdom.

For many of us, the answer isn’t “more,” or expanding the sheer volume of what they’re doing, but instead their service to Christ could be markedly improved just by doing better what they’re already doing. Something done with excellence has a greater outcome and impact than the same thing done with lesser quality, so we actually accomplish more, and better, by doing what we do with a standard of excellence.

This idea was captured in a story told by minister and author, Kent Crockett, in his book, “Making Today Count for Eternity”:

• A story is told of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s drive for excellence. Kissinger once asked his assistant to prepare a report form. The assistant worked on it day and night. Finally he completed the task and gave it to his boss. An hour later, Kissinger sent it back with a note attached saying, “Do it again.”

The assistant stayed up all night redoing the report and in the morning turned it in to Kissinger.

One hour later, Kissinger again returned the report, and again his note read, “Do it again.”

After rewriting the report a third time, the assistant delivered it to Kissinger personally and said, “Sir, I’ve done the very best I can do.”

Kissinger replied, “In that case, I’ll read it now.”

For many of us, we don’t start with our best effort. Kissinger understood that, and so he pushed his assistant to produce his best work before he would even read it. His assistant could have slept better and worked less if his first effort would have been the same effort and quality as his last! Crockett concluded this story by noting the following:

Most of us don’t need to look for more things to do for God. We just need to do a better job with what God has already assigned to us.

The measure of our contribution to the work of Christ’s kingdom isn’t found in the amount of our toil, but the quality of it. Are we doing our best work, or are we doing a lot more work of a more mediocre quality?

Scotty