23 Jun W4 | Excellent Without Pride (Humility)

Posted at 04:35h in July, Topics 2025 by

REFERENCE BIBLE VERSES

Colossians 3:23 ESV | Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,

OBJECTIVE

To refocus the purpose of our excellence. To realign the attitude in pursuing excellence.

CONTENT

HUMBLE BECAUSE FOR GOD – OBEDIENCE

  • “Whatever you do, work heartily” is a reminder from Paul to the church in Colossae to give the best in everything they do and this includes the mundane tasks because true humility does not mean doing things half-heartedly.
  • We work heartily because it is an act of obedience to God. So our excellence comes from successfully doing what He commanded us to do and not from our might. Anything that is about us can become our pride but anything about God becomes a worship. This means our obedience can keep us from being prideful.
  • True humility is, then, doing our best but not taking the credit for it because we realize who is Lord over us.

HUMBLE BECAUSE FROM GOD – STEWARDSHIP

  • “As for the Lord and not for men” is a reminder that to stay away from being prideful, we need to remember who supplies us with all that we need to be excellent.
  • When we can see our talents, works, and even successes as gifts from God to be used for His purpose, we can see ourselves as stewards of those and we can easily pursue excellence.
  • 1 Peter 4:10 ESV | As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.
  • As we live our lives as stewards, we will be able to give our time, talent, money or energy more generously to serve others without self-promoting. This allows us to shift our minds from seeking credit, which is for ourselves, to wanting to serve others and giving credit to God.

CONCLUSION

Striving for excellence without falling into pride involves aligning the pursuit of excellence with humility. To have this attitude, we need to shift our mindset from striving to reach a certain standard to striving to obey God’s commandments. When we are moved by obedience, we realize that we are no longer serving our ego but God’s glory. Obedience is then followed by provision. Whatever we need to be excellent in obeying His commandment will be supplied and so we know that our abilities are gifts from God which we need to steward. This is brought about by remembering to always be grateful for whatever we have received from God. 

 

REFLECTION/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

  • What does it look like when we do some things for God's glory versus your own recognition?
  • Share one example when Jesus was being excellent without being prideful. (Think of the times he was being obedient and showing gratitude).

REFERENCES