There is a powerful quote, “prayer is not an alternative for preparation, and faith is not the substitute of hard work.”
Genesis 2:2, “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing.” The first and most powerful lesson that we learn is that God Himself ordains work. Further, along with the story of creation, we see God command Adam to work at the land, the exact words being, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” There is something divinely approved about work. God created work and saw that it was indeed good. A quote I love is, “Excellence is the consistent performance of everyday activities exceptionally well.” Work extends to everything we generally do, from our profession/study to our house chores. Colossians 3:23, reminds us that we should always work as if we’re working for The Lord and as not for human masters. It doesn’t matter if you don’t like your teacher/lecturer, but you should have the vision to see beyond them and work as if working for the Lord because that would epitomize excellence.
Another quote I always hold dear to my heart is, “Never settle for average,” a quote I learned from my math teacher in high school. At first, I thought I understood it but taking a more in-depth look at it; I realized average is a profoundly personal matter. It is not about others; it is about you, whether others are doing better than you are doing better than others; what matters is that you are doing the best you can. We are all endowed with different talents, abilities, and capacities. What may be average to me may not be to someone else. We should have the personal drive to be the best we can be and prove to be good and faithful servants before the eyes of the Lord. In each of the different places to which God has called us, we can use our calling to draw people close to God.
There is something beautiful and attractive about excellence. People take notice of it, and it can be a tool to reach out to the lost and to encourage the saints who may be struggling. In Philippians, Paul tells us that we can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens us. Jesus said to us that through the Holy Spirit, we would do even greater things than he did. The point I am stressing is, do not do it by your effort. Life is hard; let the Holy Spirit help you. Ask Him, tell Him, talk to Him. He has a fantastic sense of humor by the way. A classmate recently told me I glow in my demeanor. I attribute the transformation to the work of the Lord in my life.
In everything you do, however small, ask for The Lord’s help, even for what you think you are good at doing. Peter was a fisherman. Chances are he knew how to swim, but when life happened, and challenges surrounded him, he was struggling dearly to do that which he thought he could do by his strength. It always comes back down to spending time with God. The more time you spend with Him, the more you will be like Him, and develop a strong work ethic that will honor and glorify His name. Even as the international youth day comes around this month (12th August) if we as the youth and the youth of Kenya adopt a strong work ethic, we will have the opportunity to create a better tomorrow for the generations to come.
