A lot of people just do what they need to do to survive. Hindi sila proud of who they are or the work they do. Masipag sila pag may supervisor pero hindi maaayos ang trabaho. If we’re not careful, we can fall into the same mindset and think, “It’s okay to be late and not give it our all.” 

I now believe that God does not bless being average. Being excellent is a blessing from God, and if you are excellent, you will do the right thing even if no one is watching. You do more than expected. They might look like they’re taking shortcuts and being careless, but don’t go that low. 

May nagsabi na “punta ako ng church para sumamba sa Diyos.” Ok naman ito pero alam mo na ang pagdating sa trabaho sa tamang oras ay isang uri ng ating pagpaparangal at pagsamba sa Panginoon. Going out looking your best is a way to honor God. Being good means that your life is a praise to God. May mga tao hindi sila nagsisimba. Hindi nila kilala ang preacher, hindi sila nagbabasa ng Bible. They’re following your life. They are keeping an eye on your life. 

Don’t be messy in your physical appearance. Make sure you look your best when you leave the house, no matter what you’re wearing. You represent  for the all-powerful God. You go the extra mile when you have an urge to do well. Not just the bare minimum is what you do. This saying really does come from the Bible. Mark 5:41 says, “If someone asks you to walk a mile with them, do more.” Back then, it was against the law for a Roman soldier to make someone carry their armour for one mile while they were moving through the city. They would have to find someone else after that mile. Jesus stated, “If they ask you to carry it for a mile, go beyond the call of duty. Do more than is expected. Carry it 2 miles” . People shouldn’t say things like, “I’m going to work and do as little as I can to try to keep this job.” False, “I’m a person of excellence. I’m going to go beyond the call of duty. I’m going to do more than is expected of me”.

Kaya kung dapat nasa trabaho ka ng 9AM, dumating ka ng 10 minutes before 9AM. At wag ka agad aalis 30 minutes before the end of your shift. Pag nasa trabaho ka, nasa trabaho ka, hindi dapat samahan ng mga pamatay ng oras dahil isang uri ng pagnanakaw ang pagamit ng non-related calls or texting while at work. May mga tao pa nasa work nga pero, they spend the next 30 minutes reading the web and calling friends, and then they wonder why they don’t get promoted. God doesn’t reward being careless and irresponsible.

In one part of the Bible, Abraham told his servant to find a wife for his son Isaac in a different country. He said, “The way you know you will find the right girl is, when you go to the well, she’ll not only offer you something to drink, but she’ll offer to get your camels water. As well this assistant got to the foreign land. He was at the well. About sunset, here comes this beautiful young lady named Rebecca. He said, “Ma’am, I’ve been traveling all day. I’m really thirsty. “Could you please lower your bucket and get me some water to drink?” he asked. “Sure, but let me also get your camels something to drink.” 

It’s interesting that a camel can drink 30 gallons of water after a long day of walking. This man had ten camels with him. If she had a 1-gallon bucket, she would have said, “Yes, I’ll dip down once to get you something to drink, and I’ll also dip down 300 more times to get your camels water as well.” That’s way above and beyond. Now, look what happens: she is chosen to marry Isaac, who comes from the richest family of that day. God blessed Rebecca because of her excellence. Sure ako na hindi na sya muling sumalok ng tubig sa balon because she became so rich with a lot of servants. 

Kapag lampas at higit ang ginagawa mo, you’ll see God’s goodness in a new way. You might say, “I’m declaring God’s favor. I’m declaring promotion and increase is coming.” Yes, that’s good news. The second question is: Are you going to work on time? Do you have to do more than that? If you’re better this year, your company probably wouldn’t be able to function as well without you. They should not be able to afford to lose you because you are so skilled, useful, valuable, and important. Your work is a reflection of you. Sign it with the highest possible quality workmanship.

Ang excellent na tao ay kelangan din mag improve. It’s not good for you if your skills are the same now as they were five years ago. To grow, you need to do things. Get better at everything you do. If you want to become a better architect, carpenter, or engineer, kelangan mo ulet mag-aral. Find a mentor. Look into ways to get more done and be more efficient. Don’t stay in one place. Keep learning. As a qualified attorney, I still talk to other lawyers and see how they do things. You cannot pretend to have all the knowledge in the world, because nobody knows everything, and nobody knows ‘nothing’. Nobody has a monopoly on knowledge, not even the professors at the leading universities in the world. Each one of us knows something, even if it is not much. Like me, ask others, ask God. 

Colossians 1:9-14 New Living Translation (NLT)

We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit.

The biggest in the room is improvement. There’s always room for improvement. We can always get better. I don’t want to be where I am now next year. More Holy Spirit-filled, more skilled, and making a bigger difference. You don’t stay the same when you’re an excellent person. There are always things you can do to get better and ways you can be better. I’ve learned that excellence and favor go hand in hand. Alam mo ba na a spirit of excellence is linked to growth, promotion, and achieving your fullest potential.  

Many years ago, I took my children to Disneyland Paris. That spot is always clean. There is no gum on the floor that I have ever seen. A lot of people walk through it every year, but it still looks brand new. What made me wonder was “How do they do this”? May nakita akong mga lalaki who was scraping off gums on the road. That’s all they do all day. This is how clean and first-class Disney places are. Tayo kaya? How much more should we keep God’s house clean and first-class? 

Ganyan din sa ating mga pananamit, your office, or your desk. You don’t need to spend a lot of money. It depends on how you handle the things God has given you. Remember that you are the representative for the all-powerful God, so do it perfectly.  You don’t get a second chance to cast a spell. God sees what’s in the heart, but men see how you look. You are the house of the most high God. You have God living in you. 

Mga babae, ladies, take some time to look after yourself. Do not allow the household chores to become your focus but neglect yourself. You think about the kids first. You’re a wonderful wife. You need to start taking care of yourself since you’re in charge of the house. Get your nails and hair done. Get some massages. Work out or go to the mall. Go have fun with your friends. In a great way about yourself. Some of you men haven’t bought new clothes in 10 years. That shirt you’re wearing has gone out of style three times already. You do a great job at work. You take care of your family very well. It’s just that you should look after yourself.

Kung kayo ay nasa grocery and something falls off the rack by chance, don’t act like you didn’t see it and leave it there. A good person will pick it up and put it back. If you decide during your grocery shopping that you no longer want this cereal, please do not just put it next to the soaps. Someone who is good at what they do puts it where it goes. In the end, if you have a great spirit, you do the right thing without feeling like someone is watching or forcing you to. To honor God, you do it. 

There are people who don’t see God’s favor as much as they should because they fail the little test. You might not have to make a lot of changes to become better. A small thing could be getting to work ten minutes early, being willing to do the right thing even when you don’t feel like it, or not fussing when you have to clean up. “It’s the little foxes that eat the vines,” says the Bible. 

Daniel was said to have had a good spirit in the Book of Daniel. During his teenage years, he was taken from Judah to Babylon. All of these young men were being trained by the king. The smartest, strongest, and most skilled ones would become the next leaders. What they ate and how they worked out were set in stone, but Daniel promised God that he would always honour him. But the Babylonians worshiped false gods, and Daniel was polite, but he wouldn’t eat the king’s fancy food. Like everyone else, he didn’t just do what everyone else did. He made even better decisions.

In Daniel 6, it says: “Daniel so distinguished himself by his exceptional qualities that the king planned on putting him in charge of the whole kingdom” . Take note that it doesn’t say “God praised Daniel and he was promoted.” “He distinguished himself” is what it says. The translated message reads, “He was way above the people around him.”

First, you honor God with your life. Second, have an excellent spirit. You don’t just do what everyone else does. Like Daniel, you make better decisions. It goes on to say that Daniel was ten times smarter than the other young men. When you have an excellent spirit, God will give you favor, creativity, and ideas that will give you a chance to stand out. 

Question for you today: Are you setting yourself apart? Are you going the extra mile, doing more than you have to, and making the better decisions? God is always working with us to get better in some way. Maybe it’s how you treat people, how you present yourself, or how you do in your career and how you improve your skills. 

Do not let a small issue stop God from bringing something big into your life. You are called to be better than others. You have excellence on the inside. Now stir it up and bring it to the outside. I believe and declare today, because I’m looking at excellent people, that God is going to give you more wisdom, more ideas, more strength, and more creativity. Like Daniel, you’re going to out-class, out-perform, and out-shine. God is going to promote you and put you in a place of honour.