Brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Phillipians 4:8)
True. Noble. Right. Pure. Lovely. Admirable. Excellent. Praiseworthy. Think about such things.
Why? Because we become what we think about. If we think about excellence, we will become excellent.
When something is excellent, it is remarkably good. Good for you and good for others. When something is good for you at the expense of others, then it is not excellent. Rather, it’s selfish.
Being selfish is easy. It only requires you to think about your own interests and feelings. Being excellent is hard, which is why so few things are excellent.
At the core of being excellent is caring enough to get inside someone else’s head to understand what they feel, what they believe, what they want. We must unlearn what we’ve learned as a child. We’re not to treat people like we want to be treated. Rather, we should treat people like they want to be treated. That’s the real golden rule.
To know if you genuinely care, and thereby be excellent at serving others, you must examine your heart. You need to be secure in yourself, knowing that you are loved by your Creator, and able live vulnerably and honestly. Allowing God to reveal how he sees you will allow you to live confidently day-in, day-out with your insecurities. This confidence and clarity is at the core of being able to care for others.
A journey to excellence begins with a journey with God to your heart. When you take an honest look at yourself with the Holy Spirit by your side, you don’t shy away from that which makes you different. You can embrace your uniqueness which empowers you to appreciate the uniqueness of other people. This appreciation manifests itself as genuine care for them which unleashes transformative power for you and for them.
And caring is at the core of it all.
MindWolves 