Excellence!

Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Philippians 4:8

The image above was posted to Georgia Football social media pages late Monday night, and the only caption it needed were two goats (the goat emoji symbolizes the acronym for greatest of all time) and a handshake emoji! It’s an image that will live forever in Georgia Football history, and it came just moments after the University of Georgia won their second National Championship title Monday night in Indianapolis.

Vince Dooley, who is 89 years old, coached the Bulldogs for forty one years, and he was the only coach to win a National Championship. Now Kirby Smart, 46, will join him. The two met moments after the game to share a handshake and a few words! Dooley coached the Dawgs from 1964-1988, and he coached so many greats including Kirby Smart who played for him from 1995-1998. Oh the excellence we see here!!

It’s impossible to believe that forty one years ago, we were listening to Larry Munson call the Sugar Bowl game between Georgia and Notre Dame which would determine the National Champion. Great names such as Buck Belue, Hershel Walker and Lindsay Scott were players of excellence at that time! On Monday night, other names joined the list of excellent players. We will long remember and talk about Bennett, Mitchell, and Davis. Their spirit, determination, and desire will remind us of what it takes to achieve excellence.

Excellence is defined by Webster as the quality of being outstanding or extremely good. The Bible’s interpretation of excellence; however, is to be the best we can be with God’s grace. Excellence is not a gift, it has to be desired and sought after. God might give us the desire for excellence, but we have to cultivate it within ourselves. People aren’t born with excellence, they work for it!

Just as athletes work to attain excellence, so should we as Christians strive for it. Why should we even pursue excellence? According to the Bible, we should strive for excellence not because we are motivated to boost our ego or achieve success, but because God deserves no less. Just as there is no “I” in team, we do it for Him not ourselves. He has created created us for excellence and to pursue it for His glory.

I love hearing stories of athletes, business folks, lawyers, doctors, ministers, who pursue excellence because they follow the lead of those who have come before them and set goals they want to imitate. What better way as Christians to achieve excellence than to imitate Christ in this world, not for our own glory, but to point others to Him.

We need to pursue excellence to show others what a spirit of excellence can do in our lives, and in the lives of those around us. We’ve all had experiences with folks who sign on to do a job for which they are trusted, but they then disappoint us by doing the job half way. Professionalism or dedication to the job we undertake leads us to develop this excellence which others want to emulate.

We pursue excellence by living a life with integrity. We will all make mistakes, but if we have integrity, we own up to our mistakes and take the consequences. I loved that after Bennett’s incomplete pass was ruled a fumble, he commented, “I will not be the reason we lose tonight.” He took responsibility. Just as Martin Luther King led with integrity, we as people of God are called to live a life of integrity regardless of our situation, what others around us are doing, or who is not watching!

Excellence is fostered by resilience. Life is hard and hands us mountains to climb and in order to overcome these obstacles, we have to be resilient or tough!! That’s where faith and hope come in. Faith and hope links our present circumstances to our vision for the future. Resilient people have the capacity to move ahead in the midst of difficult circumstances.

In a post game interview with Alabama’s Bryce Young and Will Anderson, they tried to take the blame for the team’s loss, but Coach Sabin stepped in to set the record straight. Sabin said, “We would not be here without these two guys. These guys have brought us to this point, and our team is not defined by one game.” Now, that’s excellence!

It’s inspiring to know that excellence is being taught every day. The Georgia and Alabama teams are examples of this. Life is hard. Work for what you want, love the people around you, and bet on yourself. Give God the glory for your excellence. copied

Congratulations and Go Dawgs! Thank you for a great year!!