Quality Results
Do the work that a failure will not do.
Og Mandino
If you can bear one more sports example, I am going to close the week with one final illustration from the basketball team that my daughter and I were given the honor of working with last week. The girls fell behind early in nearly all of the eight games they played, but caught up and won all but one. By the end of most of those games, the girls had to be restrained from running up the score.
Brilliant coaching - right? In a way it was, but probably not in the way you might be thinking. The real work had been done over the past several years by the girl's basketball coach. Jody has instilled within these girls a work ethic that has caused them to refuse to give up or even slow down. Because of that work ethic, these girls ran a full court press from the opening tip to the closing buzzer. As a result, the teams that had enjoyed their early leads against us were usually glad for the games to end, even though they were losing, because they were too worn out to play anymore.
There is a lesson here if we are willing to learn it: It is that most people are unwilling to do the work that success demands. Most people want to win in life, but relatively few are willing to put forth the quality effort that quality results demand. Understanding this truth gives us a huge competitive advantage in everything we do, from academics to athletics, from business to relationships. In fact, the world is there for the taking for those who are unafraid of hard work.
While this is an important truth for our physical lives, it is absolutely critical in our spiritual service. While I am not trying to suggest that our hard work will somehow earn our salvation (How could we insult the grace of God or the sacrifice of Christ in such a way?) we still must realize that we have been called to service, not some sort of spiritual welfare. Since the Bible refers to us as servants, not CEO's, we have to understand that our service to God will demand things that are hard - so hard, in fact, that many people will simply not be willling to do them. But, Heaven awaits those who are willing to put in the quality effort that service to God requires.
Love the Lord you God with all your heart and with all you soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.
Mark 12:30, NIV
