When Jesus came to earth to give His life as a living sacrifice, He gave His best to His Father. He always made time with His Father a great priority, He made time for His friends, He served with His whole heart, He never compromised His Father’s standards for the world’s standards, He loved with His whole heart, He gave His Father His best.

We are tempted everyday to compromise on excellence and give the least of ourselves but God gave us our potentials and gifts so that we can make excellence our standards. The reason for this is that we are His ambassadors and when our lives are lived in excellence, we testify of Him. Many of us may be  shy to witness but our lives lived in excellence will be our testimonies. When we give God our best in everything that we do, He will get the glory and honor.

Sometimes when we do something, at work, at church, as a favor, we think that we are just doing it unto the person or employer or friend or family but in reality we are doing it unto the Lord. Most of the time those people may not know what our attitudes are in our giving or service but God our Father knows.

There is a story that goes like this:

A retiring carpenter told his boss that he was retiring but the boss said to the carpenter, just build me this one last house and then you can retire. The carpenter was tired of his work because he had been doing it for so many years and he had done excellent work for his boss for many long years but he agreed to do this last one for His boss.

As he worked on the foundation of the house this time he took shortcuts. He didn’t do the concrete blocks with the re-bar inserts. He said in his mind, who will know any way. The boss told him not to spare any expenses, design and build the best house that you possibly can. When it came to the framing, the man didn’t take his time to inspect and choose the best lumber, he just rushed through it, because he wanted to finish it quickly. When it came to the roof, he put the least amount of effort in making sure it was safe and secure. He didn’t completely insulate the walls to keep out the noise and the cold winter weather. He did the least that he could to get the job done because he just wanted to retire.

He finally completed the house but on the outside it looked like any other house that he usually made but it was the only one he did below his usual excellence. He bought cheap furnishings and though it looked OK, it was not his best. He completed it way under budget and in record time. His boss was surprised because he wasn’t expecting the house to be completed so quickly.

The boss called him to his office and gave him a hug and told him what great work he had done all these years. He told him that his work has been an inspiration to all his other employees and to all the home owners. He felt an emptiness in his stomach because he knew that this last house was not at the level of excellence that he has always live up to. As he turned to walk out, the boss called him and said, “friend, I have appreciated your sacrifice and dedication all these years and so, here is the keys to the house that you just completed, its my gift to you.”