Always Giving My Best

In review of 2 Peter 1:5a it says, “Do your best to improve your faith.”

Bottom Line:

Do your best to improve your faith and respond to God’s promises. You can do this by adding goodness and understanding.

What this means to me:

I can best improve my faith and respond to God’s promises, by supplementing your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and more excellence with knowledge.

A key question for me to consider this morning is, “I'm always doing my best?” If not, why?

What I’m learning is that if I want to give my best to God, there are three things I should do that every soldier understands.

First, I must define what I would die for. Until I know what I’m willing to die for, I’m not ready to live or love. Soldiers know there are some things more valuable than their own lives. Even Jesus talked about it: “The greatest love is shown when a person lays down his life for his friends” (John 15:13b TLB). We measure love not by what people tell us but by their willingness to sacrifice.

Second, I must sacrifice my own comfort. Soldiers do this all the time. They serve in extreme temperatures and give up control of their schedules and aren’t making a lot of money. They give up a lot of things. I won’t become a great man or woman of God without sacrificing. I won’t become great by doing what’s easy or comfortable. I’ll become great by committing myself to something greater than myself and then being willing to sacrifice for it. The greater my sacrifice in life, the greater my character will be. The Bible says in 2 Timothy 2:3, “Endure suffering along with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (NLT).

Lastly, I must eliminate distractions. The Bible says, “No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer” (2 Timothy 2:4 NIV). Soldiers know they can’t be distracted by civilian life if they want to be ready to respond to a leader’s command.

In order for me to be the best I can be, I must start spending more of my time, money, and energy on things that are going to last forever and less time, money, and energy on things that don’t really matter.

In summary, in order to give my best to God, I should consider and use these three steps. All of which counter my internal selfish nature.  I need to consider others needs more valuable than my own. I should be willing to sacrifice my own comfort and serve. More importantly, I should not allow myself to get distracted with things of this world nor of myself. I should be listening and responding to my leaders command.