CULTIVATING THE SPIRIT OF EXECELLENCE (DANIEL 6:1-5)
I take this opportunity to thank the Lord for his goodness and mercy towards our lives. Our Topic Cultivating a Spirit of excellence is a wakeup call towards glorifying God in ev- ery aspect. Excellency is the art and science of doing things well, decently and in order. You also do things aiming to please God and this may sometimes make you unpopular.
Excellence is the opposite of mediocrity. Sometime even the body of Christ lowers its stan- dards to meet the carnal standards of its members. God is looking for servants who are willing to give him their very best. Daniel was a young man but he ended up successful because of the Spirit and attitude of excellence. As a Jewish slave, he still served the foreign king and did not in any way compromise the standards of God. Though Daniel was a foreigner, his excellent spirit applies to all of us ladies and gentlemen. Today we are celebrating the mothers and enrolling new members to Mother’s Union and our prayer is that each will cultivate a spirit of excellence.
The world has become so busy forcing us to present incomplete or half backed results. ‘We get trapped into doing things for the sake of those who have assigned us, at the expense of quality. From the example of Jesus Christ in Luke 2:52, a scripture used mostly by Christian community development workers-Jesus grew in wisdom, stature and in favor with God and man. We should therefore strive to be excellent in a balanced way capturing the mind, body, soul, socially and spiritually. Excellency is a result of serious concentration to acquire the best output. Some of us Christians are growing horizontally in terms of evangelism but our roots are so shallow and lack vertical growth brought about by discipleship. Excellence cannot be divorced from discipleship.
Selfishness, Laziness, Pride and Lack of interest are hindrances to excellence. Excellent peo- ple-are set apart for example Daniel and friends who chose to be different from other ex- iles. He did not defile himself with the kings food (Daniel 1:8).They are humble, they boast in God alone and do not attribute success to their own ability but link it with God’s help and are always thankful. They give God the best in public or private life. They glorify God in all they do Colossians 3:17.They are good stewards of God’s resources, they honor but do not worship authority. Excellent people are Noticed without advertisement (Daniel 1:8-9).They are Saved from the enemy (Daniel 2:13-16). God is glorified through them. Excellent spir- it makes one a witness and a living sermon. (Daniel 3:28-28 and 6: 25-27) Nebuchadnezzar and Darius acknowledged the God of heaven which earned Daniel rewards and promotions.
Being a mother is a noble task and it comes with responsibilities. We all need to support the mother’s union team and pray for Excellency upon them. Daniel did not only excel in the things of God but in other neutral matters like governance and study that paved way for him. The mother’s union team needs to excel and exhibit the qualities of noble women in proverbs 31:10-31. “Excellence” is “the possession chiefly of good qualities in an unusual degree; sur- passing virtue, merit, worth, value”. From a Biblical point of view excellence means to have in abundance, to increase, to surpass. Biblical excellence is to do your best with what God has given you. In this quarter as we focus on work as worship, let us do our best to glorify God. As mothers let us examine ourselves if we have a spirit of excellence. Daniel committed himself to live a consistent excellent life even when it meant death. Let us trust God not to compromise but to serve God wherever we are with a spirit of humility and excellence. May God bless you.
The Very Rev. Canon. Dr. Rebecca Nyegenye
Provost