Whatever You Do, Work Heartily

Recently I was talking to a friend who is a teacher. She was saying how she wants to push to become a better teacher, not settle for being the teacher she is now. Now, I am sure this friend is a spectacular teacher already but she realizes that she could be even better! She doesn’t want to settle but rather improve. 

This was a challenge for me. How often with things that we do every day do we simply settle for what we are doing rather than trying to be the best we can be. How often do we stop learning and stop improving because we think we are doing pretty well.  

We might be a pretty good wife, but what if we could be an even better one. We might be good at our job but what about if we could be even better. We might be a good preacher but what if we could improve. We might be a good teacher but what if we could learn to better handle some of our weaker spots. We might be pretty good at baseball but what if we could be an even better team player. 

I might feel like I am at a good spot in my Christian walk but when does Jesus tell us to just settle with that and not try to be perfect. Jesus gave us a perfect example to strive for and we will never get there here on this earth. He knows that. But by giving us a perfect example He has shown us that we should never stop trying to improve. We should never settle for “We are doing ok” if we could be doing awesome! 

Now, you may be thinking about someone in your life who has burnt out because they tried to do too much or tried to improve too much or were a perfectionist and nothing was ever good enough for them. I realize there is a danger there and this will look differently depending on the person. But no matter who you are and what character you are, never do I believe should we have the attitude that we have learned enough and that there is no more for us to learn. Never should we stop trying to improve. We may not be able to improve every aspect of our lives at once. If we have a job, we may not be able to improve that aspect if there is something at home or church that is more important at the moment to be putting our energy and time into improving. There will always need to be a balance. 

But we shouldn’t be settling in all aspects of our lives either. There is always something we could be improving. Maybe this means taking a course, maybe this means practice, maybe this means going to a weekend seminar, maybe this means talking to an expert in that field, maybe this even means giving up something to improve something else, maybe this means giving up a bit of pride and admitting we could use some guidance in this part of our lives, maybe this means reading or maybe this means prayer.  

I think of the verse Colossians 3:23 - Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for man. That doesn’t sound like settling to me! Or how about Eccl. 9:10 – Whatever the activity in which you engage, do it with all your ability. 

God will give us the strength to improve if we are striving to honor and glorify Him in what we do. With God all things are possible. Education is not a bad thing! Even though I am not in school anymore I want to keep learning, keep trying to improve in all that do. I want to be able to serve God the best I can, whether that as a wife, in my career, as a friend or as a fellow church member. In all aspects there are ways I can improve. 

God, help me to never stop learning, all the days I live!