An Excellent Life

“Why should the devil have all the good music?” This is a line made famous by Larry Norman, one of the early Christian contemporary musicians, known for his rock and roll music with Christian lyrics. Personally, I’m not a fan of rock music…never was, probably never will be at my age. However, I suspect Larry had a point.

The other day, I was doing my personal devotions (in Swahili, for a challenge!) and as I was working my way through the vocabulary and comparing how the Swahili might differ from the English versions I had on hand, a line from a chorus came into my head – “Be excellent in what is good; be innocent in evil”. This is taken from Romans 16:19. All the versions I looked up translate it as being ‘wise’ to what is good, but the word excellent is stuck in my brain, especially in light of what I want to say.

A common perception in this world is that anything that is Christian, particularly anything in the arts, is going to be substandard, poor quality, mediocre. I find myself wondering “why is that?” Unfortunately, anecdotal experience seems to bear this out too! I may be stepping on a few toes here, but please hear me out. Watch a Christian movie and the acting is wooden, plot thin, characters not quite believable. How about Christian novels? More thin, unrealistic plots, often ‘preachy’, no real depth in the characters. Why is it this way?

The thing that bothers me most, however, is the poor work ethic I find among today’s Christians. It is often like the believer is simply putting in time, doing the absolute minimum to get a paycheck. I have heard far too many employers say they would not hire Christians, not because of their beliefs, but because they do poor work, put no real effort into their jobs, or have lousy attitudes. I have even heard a few say Christians are dishonest! Why is this so? Whatever happened to the old perception of believers being hard workers, honest, industrious, inventive and creative?

It seems to me I see in today’s Christian one or the other of the 2 exhortations of Paul in Romans 16:19 missing or very weak. It seems the church of today either goes to one side or the other, lacking in one of the characteristics Paul seems to be encouraging a balance in. In the conservative church, particularly, we see a real push for the ‘be innocent of evil’ half of Paul’s instructions. We are good at saying “don’t do this” or “don’t do that”.  “Be separate from the world. Do not indulge in the pleasures of this world.” OK. These can be good warnings because there is a lot of evil in this world. There is no doubt about that, and Christians are warned to “be innocent of evil” (stay away, do not indulge). However, what about the first half of Paul’s exhortation, to “be wise (or excellent) in what is good”? The neglect of this portion of Paul’s teaching is what I believe leads to the mediocrity we see in so many Christians’ lives, their work, even the arts.

Do we strive for excellence in whatever we do? Do we see our personal lives, our work/vocations, our speech, our hobbies/interests, our entertainment as a reflection of the God we say lives in us through his Holy Spirit? Our God is a holy and excellent God. How can we do or be otherwise? If we are, it is because we are suppressing His work in us. If I’m going to play my instrument on the worship team at church, I should strive to do the best I can and practice, practice, and learn all I can about how to do it well. Too many of us give the left overs to God. If I have time, I will practice that new song I am not very familiar with. If I can manage the time, I will read and study the lesson for tonight’s Bible Study. Or how about this one? If I have any money left over, I’ll put it in the offering box.

If I am taking a course, I would hope I would work hard, do all my assignments and readings to the best of my ability and seek to learn all there is to know about that subject. If I am employed in any career, I should do the very best I can, show interest in my work, and even learn more about how I could do even better, or help the company or profession be even better. In short, be excellent in what I do. We as believers, tend to forget that what we do and say reflects God to others! What are we telling others about God when we say we are Christians, but then display bad attitudes, speak offensively, or do poor work? We become an embarrassment to the church and actually can chase others away from the faith.

I have been praying since that day I was studying that particular chapter in the Bible, about my own life, attitudes, actions, and thoughts. I have been challenged to be careful to be striving for innocence of evil, yes – to not pollute my mind or thoughts with the garbage that certainly is out there and to stay away from evil practices. However, I have also been examining myself as to whether I have slipped into a kind of internal or external laziness, a giving to God my ‘leftovers’. Am I striving for excellence, wisdom, in all I say and do, being careful in what kind of message I am giving to others? How am I cultivating my relationship with my God? Surely, if I desire to please Him, I will give Him my very best!

A note about Christians ‘borrowing’ from the world. There seems to be this debate in the church between those who say not to use anything from the world because it is corrupt and those who say, we can use much that is in the world. I tend to believe that originally, the world was all good. We are told in Genesis in the creation narrative, that the completion of every stage of creation was pronounced “Good”, by God. In fact, His summation at the very end, as He surveyed all His handiwork, was “very good”! I believe that much of this good creation was corrupted by sin and the resultant decay and death. The corruption and sin we are not to touch or indulge in. However, I believe there is still much that is good in this world. I believe there is still knowledge and wisdom believers can use, in every area of life, in every ‘ology’ that exists (psychology, sociology, geology, etc.). I believe we are to make as much use of the minds God has blessed us with and join Him in the creation of good things, better lives, reflecting His goodness and greatness. It is possible in our eagerness to avoid the evil of the world, to be separate from sin, that we miss out on the goodness God has placed in this life. Yet, we also need to beware because evil, sin, is subtle and can hook people before they realize they have slipped into it. I pray for wisdom to know how to be excellent in what is good and to be innocent of evil.