Just Do Your Best

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All of the pictures in this post are from a road trip my husband and I took a couple of years ago in September, 2017. Our destination was Glacier National Park in Montana, but we saw the sights in South Dakota and some in Wyoming along the way. On the drive back home, we visited Yellowstone and Rocky Mountain National Parks. Throughout this trip, I couldn’t help but marvel at the changing landscapes, wildlife, and climate. We experienced temperatures in the upper eighties and a gorgeous display of earth tones in the barren Badlands and then winter-like conditions, at times, in Glacier National Park and Yellowstone, with the stunning contrast of bright snow on the evergreens. In Rocky Mountain National Park, fall colors were prominent and sometimes the mountains appeared to be glowing as the sunlight struck the golden leaves of the aspen trees. I was in constant awe of the power of our God! We saw such an array of diversity in only a very small portion of the world! “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31a) It almost seems a bit of an understatement to say “it was very good,” but God’s good is greater than our good. His good is His best! The beauty and complexity of this world is God’s best, and He gave it to us! “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.'” (Genesis 1:26).

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Yes, God gave us His best, and He expects our best in return. He has always expected the best from His people. When He instituted the Passover with the children of Israel, He said the lamb to be sacrificed should be without blemish (Exodus 12:5). Other references to sacrifices without blemish can be found in Leviticus 1:3, 3:1, 6, and 22:19 and in Malachi 1:8, 14. What would it have meant to God if the Israelites had offered the smallest or sickest animals from their herds or flocks? It means nothing when we give up something that wasn’t valuable or that we didn’t want anyway. But how does this apply to us, since we don’t offer animal sacrifices to God today? One definition of the word “sacrifice” is “the act of depriving oneself of something for the sake of attaining some goal or for the sake of someone else.” If we read Romans 12:1-2, I think we can see how “sacrifice” applies to us today. “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Our bodies are to be living sacrifices.

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Christ’s apostles knew what it meant to be living sacrifices. When Christ called Peter and Andrew, “immediately they left their nets and followed him.” (Matthew 4:20) When He called James and John, “immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.” (Matthew 4:22) In 2 Corinthians 11:24-27, we can read Paul’s account of his sufferings as an apostle. These men put Christ first. In Luke 14:26-27, 33, Christ makes some powerful statements. “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple………..So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” Christ demands the best of our talents, time, knowledge, and wealth before the world gets its share. He doesn’t want the leftovers. We don’t have to worry if our best isn’t as good as someone else’s best. We are not all equal in the abilities or wealth we possess, but we are expected to do something with what we have and not be ashamed if we think it’s too little. Read the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-29. Barbara Bush once said, “Some people give time, some money, some their skills and connections; some literally give their blood……but everyone has something to give.” Remember, God knows if it’s our best and He will be pleased with that. Jesus said in Matthew 5:48, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Obviously, we cannot live perfect lives as Christ did, but I think we better be doing the best we can to emulate Him and our heavenly Father.

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God demands our best and He deserves our best. He gave us the magnificent gift of this world that we inhabit. But as truly wonderful as that gift is, it pales in comparison to the greatest and most precious gift of His Son. God let His only Son, His perfect Son, die for us, that we might live eternally. “And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him.” (Hebrews 5:9) If you are a parent, I imagine that your worst fear is to lose a child, no matter the circumstances. We must, then, seem awfully arrogant to God if we say by our actions, “I know you let Jesus die for me, but I just don’t have time to worship you today” or “I’m too tired to read your Word tonight” or “I don’t feel like visiting the hospital today.” We need to show our appreciation to God for the wonderful gifts, the perfect gifts, that He gave us, and we can do that by giving our best back to Him. I’m not implying that we must give up all that we have and suffer hard times to please God, but we need to be willing to put Him first, which may involve sacrificing a few worldly pleasures.

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When my oldest son was around 5 years old, if I asked him what he wanted for breakfast, he would simply smile and say, “Just do your best, Mom.” Whenever he said that, I felt like he meant he wanted homemade biscuits and chocolate gravy, and, to be honest, what I really meant when I asked what he wanted for breakfast was “Do you want a pop-tart or a bowl of cereal?” That was the easy way out when trying to get him and myself ready for school and his brother ready for the sitter and all of us out the door on time, when I am not a morning person and probably didn’t get up as early as I should have. We all cut corners sometimes. We may have to let the housework slide or grab some fast food to go as we rush to an activity, but, if we get too busy for God’s work, then we are too busy. He doesn’t deserve cut corners, and he won’t accept them. Give God your best because He demands it and deserves it. And if we give God our best, He has another wonderful and perfect gift waiting for us – a home with Him in Heaven. If you ask God “What do you want from me?” or “What can I do for you today?” I think His answer is always “Just do your best.” And you can’t respond by saying, “God, have a pop-tart today and I’ll make biscuits tomorrow.”

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