Mom Heart Moments #320

Applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.

SCRIPTURE TELLS US TO “train up a child in the way he should go” (Proverbs 22:6). When one is given knowledge about how to act, behave, and implement certain skills, the natural consequences include having wisdom, confidence, and skills to employ in life. For this reason, training is essential to the well-being of a child, so he or she may live life in a strong and healthy way.

Training can be illustrated in many ways: an athlete must learn and train to become a champion. A pianist must be instructed and practice to become a concert performer. An artist must learn the skills and philosophy of drawing and painting and then practice to become masterful at his or her craft. And so it is with any craft or skill.

Shouldn’t all true believers be able to call forth excellence and integrity as a reflection of Him in our lives? Yet excellence and integrity are personal issues. One can only grow in these areas through personal commitment and a decision that says, “Regardless of what is happening around me, I will be the best I can be, work the hardest I am able, and pursue the highest standards, especially for my personal life where no one but God sees. I have been bought with a price and have His Holy Spirit living in me. My worship of God requires that I pursue the standard of His holiness as an affirmation of His reality in my life.”

This labor of excellence, personally and in the lives of our children, will take many long years. But if we are not committed to pursuing whatever it takes to build this excellence, then what hope do we have for our future, and how can we represent Him, who has given all?

God longs to live a life of excellence through you. Today, commit to becoming all He has enabled you to be.