Excellence — The Pursuit of Greatness
In the first part of this series, we looked at a core principle of living a life of true greatness — Know Your WHY. The difference between mediocrity and greatness firstly lie with having the understanding of your purpose.
Purpose gives you the much needed drive to live meaningfully. Without it, you will ‘do so many things’ that will end up having little or no eternal value.
Without a reason, all living will fail to have true meaning.
But what else differentiates great people from mediocre? There’s a huge difference between how people in both categories live. The former is committed to a life of excellence.
#2 – Live a life of excellence
In a previous post, I made a case for 100%. When you study the lives of great Christian men and women, they dedicated themselves to their calling and purpose without reservation. We can conclude based on the quality of their influence, they lived a life of excellence.
The pursuit of excellence is not something we are born with — we attain it through discipline and commitment. Greatness requires a significant level of focus that calls you to go over and beyond the minimum expected of you.
Greatness demands you stay committed to your purpose despite all odds against you. Excellence is indeed a desirable quality of life. And scripture isn’t silent on it either:
“so that you may approve what is excellent…” — Philippians 1:10
What do you approve in your life? What do you engage in? What do you deliver as output? Can God make a case for 100% for you yet?
John Wesley – learning to give your all
Pursuing his calling with singleness of heart, John Wesley (1703 -1791) defied the traditions of the day against him and preached the gospel of hope.
Passionate and tireless, he gave his time and heart to the ministry. He rode on horseback, covering over 250,000 miles and preached over forty thousand sermons in his lifetime. His legacy lives on after him.
It takes more than average to be that intentional like John Wesley was. You don’t achieve the kind of result his influence did and continues to do today by chance… by being average. No!
When you’re committed to your calling, you will pour all your heart into your work and service. Greatness demands everything from you. — Share This
Personal application
You will not suddenly imbibe excellence in your ministry, if excellence is absent in your personal life. You will not suddenly give God 100 percent, if you’re not a person of integrity. Christians are called to live a life of one – in everything we do, we must be consistent.
If we must stay true to our purpose, excellence and sincere commitment must be part of our daily lives — at school, work, home, church and in our local community.
God demands a life of excellence — nothing short of 100% will do!
P.S. This past weekend, I hosted the 3rd edition of The Success Masterclass Program in Essen. In addition to our regular core group, we had new students from Costa Rica, Georgia, Cameroon and Netherlands join us for our new series on how to build a successful career. We had an amazing time sharing, learning and playing football and badminton in the end. Thank you so much for your prayers.Image by Matthew Gidley | Flickr
About Joseph Iregbu
From a homeless, near-school-dropout to living a story worth telling. Purpose is my passion. What's your story?
Giving our best and all in everything we have been called to do is so crucial! Great read!
Very true, Dan. Thanks for reading and sharing.
I was reminded of the passage of Scripture where Jesus says If you don’t gather with Him you’re scattering (Matt 12:30).