Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth!…Jesus Christ is the most excellent of men and His lips have been anointed with grace, since God has blessed Him forever….I will show you the most excellent way….Think about and practice whatever is excellent. (Psalm 8:1, 45:2; 1 Corinthians 12:31; Philippians 4:8-9)
Excellence in Blessing Others
Researchers from the University of Michigan and Yale studied how workers in unexciting jobs did their work excellently, even if people under-valued them. They discovered that housekeepers at a major hospital in the Midwest didn’t see themselves as janitors at all. They saw themselves as part of the professional staff, the healing team, and that changed everything. These housekeepers got to know the patients and their families and offered support in small but meaningful ways. They smiled often, listened carefully, brought in boxes of Kleenex or glasses of water without being asked, and spoke many words of encouragement. One housekeeper rearranged pictures on the walls of a comatose patient, hoping that a change of scenery might have a positive effect on her patient. These housekeepers did whatever it took, going above and beyond, to make the stressful hospital stay a more pleasant for the patients and their families. They made a big difference. They practiced Mother Teresa’s adage: “Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love.”
The researchers called what these special housekeepers did job-crafting. Job-crafting means that workers take their existing job descriptions and expand them to make a difference in people’s lives. Job-crafters go beyond what’s expected and find a way to add something new, to add value, to their work. They look for ways to bring delight to other people, to bless them, to cheer them. One of the researchers put it this way: “People who job-craft don’t just reshape their jobs to make life better for themselves, but they serve others in beneficial ways.”1
Ephesians 2:10 says that Christians are God’s handiwork (masterpiece, workmanship) created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Scripture says that every follower of Jesus has been spiritually transformed, renewed, and made ready to be used by God. The Lord has set up opportunities for all of us to serve Him and other people, paths for us to walk in. God wants us to bless other people and live the meaningful life which He prearranged for us. Like the hospital workers, all Christians must do whatever it takes to make a difference for Christ in our corner of the world.
Excellence in Scripture
The Greek word aretē appears only here in Philippians 4:8 and four times in Peter.2 It means morally outstanding and good, virtuous, remarkable, first-rate. The hospital housekeepers mentioned above were not the CEOs, but they did their ordinary jobs in extraordinary ways. Excellence in an attribute of God to be valued and imitated by Jesus’ followers.
When the Apostle Paul was giving instructions to the Christ-followers at Corinth in Greece, he paused before a powerful passage and said, “And now I will teach you the most excellent way.” To explain excellence, I will explore parts of that “most excellent way,” looking at the key qualities Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 13.3 This chapter is often called “The Love Chapter,” but it goes beyond love, as we will see.
Christ-like Excellence Is Patient
Patience is the opposite of being a hot-head or having a short fuse. With God’s help, Christians are to restrain our anger and frustration to put up with fellow sinners, even our spouses, parents, children, co-workers, church members, and fellow drivers on the freeway. Patience realizes that most people are different from us. We also must understand that people grow at different paces and that most Christian development is not instant or overnight. It takes a few minutes to get married, but it takes a lifetime of adjusting, blending, and compromising to build a God-honoring marriage. The same is true of any friendship or relationship.
Patience is needed not just with people, but with problems we can’t quickly solve. Hymnwriter and pastor Phillips Brooks (1835–1893) was known for his gentle personality, but sometimes, even he got frustrated. One day, he was pacing the floor like a caged lion and a friend asked, “What’s the trouble?” Brooks answered, “The trouble is that I am in a hurry, but God is not.”4 I often feel that way, and maybe you do, too.
Copying Jesus
Pastor Thomas a Kempis (1380-1471), in his book, The Imitation of Christ wrote, “We are not patient like Jesus, if we are only willing to suffer as much as we think proper and for whom we please. Don’t expect people who irritate us to change. But whatever wrong is done to us, let us accept it all as from the Lord’s hand, and count it gain for our sanctification.” Thomas urges us to behave in a way that is consistent with our trust in God’s absolute sovereignty. He also warns us not to be angry that we cannot make others live how we want, since we cannot even make ourselves live as the Lord wants.5
Colossians 3:12-13 says, “As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” Our physical clothing is not so important to God, but these Christ-like virtues are. May the Spirit help us to be as patient with others as the Lord is with each of us!
Christ-like Excellence Is Kind
Jesus doesn’t reject people who are bruised and broken by the Fall. He has compassion on us. Christ doesn’t scorn people who are weak and failing. He says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. I am gentle and humble in heart.”6 Kindness is the opposite of cruelty or severity. It’s the opposite of harshness and thoughtlessness. Kindness is active, not passive. It means giving of ourselves generously to others, rather than acting entitled and expecting something from them.
In the Gospels, Jesus’ kindness was often joined with His compassion for people. He not only took action to help them, He shared in their joys and sorrows. Christ had compassion on people who were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. He had compassion on sick and blind people and healed them miraculously. Jesus had compassion for people who had been with Him three days and had nothing to eat. He did not want to send them away hungry and was concerned that they might collapse on the way home.7 His kindness and compassion joined together and He went around doing good to people, because God was with Him.8
We may not do miracles as Christ did, but we can bless others in Christ-like and life-giving ways as the hospital housekeepers did in the opening story.
A Painful Lesson
Author Steven Covey (1932-2012) learned about kindness the hard way. He was riding on the New York subway when a father with three unruly children entered the same train car and sat across from Covey. The kids were out of control and made a ruckus. Covey scolded the father for letting his kids disturb everyone. The father answered sadly that they were returning from his wife’s funeral. He explained that the children were usually well-behaved, but now they were acting out their grief. The father didn’t have the energy to correct them. Covey felt like a jerk for pre-judging and he changed his thinking immediately. Now he felt empathy and support for this hurting family since he knew the larger story. He saw the situation from a different perspective, realizing the bigger issue.9
Pastor John Watson (1850-1907) stated: “Most of us are acutely aware of our own struggles and preoccupied with our own problems. We sympathize with ourselves because we see our own difficulties clearly. Let us be kind to others, for most of us are fighting a hard battle that we don’t know of. When we meet someone, let’s treat them as if they were in serious trouble–and we will be right more than half the time.” That’s wise advice for practicing Christ-like patience and kindness toward people who may not always be so lovable!
We’ll come back to 1 Corinthians 13 next time to learn more about what God has to teach us about Christ-like, excellent love.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, You are the Maker and Master of heaven and earth and our Savior. We ask for Your continued patience and kindness with us because we forget our identity in Christ and fall short. Help us to imitate Jesus day by day, step by step. Make us patient. Help us not to over-react to people or problems with too much emotion or unnecessary action. Because we are Your children, blessed by Your kindness, teach us that it’s always the right time to be kind. Remind us that kindness has led more people to Christ than knowledge, zeal, or eloquence. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.10
Notes: 1 Adapted from David Sturt, Great Work: How to Make a Difference People Love. 2 The 4 times are in 1 Peter 2:9, 2 Peter 1:3, and twice in 2 Peter 1:5. 3 The Greek word in 1 Cor. 13 is huperbolé. It means excellent, throwing beyond, superior. 4 Our Daily Bread. 5 Our Daily Bread. 6 Matt 11:28-30. 7 Matt 9:26, 14:14, 15:32, 20:34. 8 Acts 10:38. 9 Adapted from Covey, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, p. 30-31. 10 The last line in this prayer adapted from a quote by Frederick W. Faber (1814-1863).