I had the great honor and pleasure of meeting with one of my mentors last week. He is one of the top ophthalmologists (eye specialist) at one of the top programs of its kind in the nation. What amazes me the most about my meeting with him and his “team” of doctors was both his absolute commitment to living out his relationship with Jesus Christ, and his passion for the pursuit of excellence.

I was thinking about this idea of having “spiritual ambitions” and setting high goals and plans for our lives. Now, I’ve heard this many times, but I don’t think I’ve ever fully understood what this means.

When I think of what Scripture says should be our ambition, I find pretty much all of our “ambitions” should revolve around loving God and loving others (Matthew 22:37-40). Even practical passages reflect this idea – “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.” (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12)

None of these things really have anything to do with us seeing physical, tangible results. Sure, there will be some seen here and there, and we’ll receive some of the benefits of those results (respect, reciprocated love, etc.) – but the Bible makes it clear that the “spiritual ambitions” we should have are focused outside ourselves – notice the other-centeredness in both of the above passages. You’ll find that in pretty much every command of Scripture. Sure, we receive the benefits of obedience, but ultimately everything we let God do through us is for His glory or for the sake of others (which ultimately gives Him glory too, but we won’t delve into that).

So what does this have to do with pursuing excellence? Well, this idea of “spiritual ambition” versus “worldly ambition” definitely has scared many Christians (myself included) into settling for mediocrity, because we don’t want to face situations where we might be thrust into the spotlight, and we will be made much of, at the expense of God’s glory.

What I posit in this article is that laboring intensely and putting our best effort into things in order that we might become the “best” at what we do does not have to be directly linked to our pride. Rather, it is the intention by which we do what we do – Scripture commands us to work as “unto the Lord,” because doing the best we can honors God. Becoming the best neurosurgeon or the best teacher or the best lawyer or the best businessman is not incompatible with what God calls for our lives – but our motivation can conflict.

I’ve seen many a college student who places less priority on his/her schoolwork because he/she is “too involved in ministry.” As a result, a student who has the potential for making, say, a 3.5 GPA ends up settling for a 2.9. While this may be what is necessary for a short season, I believe that this sort of mindset actually dishonors God and presents a weakened testimony before non-Christians. This mindset also runs directly counter to Jesus’ analogy of being “faithful in little” to qualify for greater responsibilities.

So what I’m trying to say in my little rant is, no matter what you do – whether it’s a “dumb” math assignment or cleaning the bathroom or keeping your house hospitable for guests or writing out the alphabet 400 times, we need to do the very best we can. The best means the best we can given the time, resources, and energy we have to accomplish the task. We need to leave every task with the contentment of knowing that we could not have done any better – even if the result is graded as a “C” or a “D”. That’s where our spiritual ambitions ought to be – showing ourselves as Christians approved by God because we put all of ourselves into everything we do.

Speaking of which, I need to get back to studying for my finals – which definitely will need all of the time and energy I can put into them.