LIVING AN EXCELLENT LIFE

And this morning we would share on living an excellent life. We take our Bible scripture from Proverbs chapter 31:10. Proverbs 31:10, The Voice version says, "Who can find a truly excellent woman? Truly excellent." And this applies in this context to both men and women. A truly excellent woman, a truly excellent man, one who is superior in all that he is and all that she does. Superior in character, superior in substance, superior in competence, superior also in performance and impact. How what far exceeds that of rubies and expensive jewelry.

Amplified Bible, Classic Edition, Proverbs 31:10, it says, "A capable, intelligent, and virtuous woman, who is he who can find her?" Leaving an excellent life, it involves raising a child, raising a team, and he becomes, and she becomes a young adult that begins to manifest these traits: capable, intelligent, and virtuous. That [Music] talks of high moral standards, a very refined person, and a very refined character. It says she's far more precious. Because when you begin to live an excellent life early enough, you are adding so much value to your life by doing so. And among many things that will play out, it is going to position you for promotion, and that promotion will keep coming. Living an excellent life will open doors for you, to open doors for you. People who are passionate about excellence in life will recognize you and place value on you.

In God's Word's Translation, it says, "Who can find a wife with a strong character? Strong character." Strong character. That's another attribute of an excellent life. Is strong character? Is foundational, is compulsory, especially from the Christian perspective. In Daniel chapter 6, verse 1-5, Daniel 6:1-5, New Living Translation says, "It says Darius decided to divide the kingdom into 120 provinces, and he appointed a high officer to rule over each province. The king also chose Daniel and two others as administrators to supervise the high officers and protect the king's interest." You begin to see more attributes of an excellent life: a man, a woman that is trustworthy, a son, a daughter that is trustworthy, reliable, loyal, and faithful. So when you can depend upon to protect your interest, to protect your interest. Said the king also chose Daniel and two others as administrators to supervise the high officers. Someone you can [Music] assign to what? Watch over all that belongs to you, and you are rest assured that nothing will go wrong. And if there's going to be a problem, that problem can't come from him. Secondly, he will be quick to address any problem that comes up.

So Daniel was among the three that the king chose to supervise the high offices and protect the king's interest. He said, "Daniel soon proved himself." For you to be rest assured you are truly living an excellent life, you have to prove yourself. You have to prove yourself in different ways, different fields of life, different realms of life. You have to prove yourself, not just in the spiritual realm, not just in the spiritual realm. You have to prove yourself in every other vital area of life. Said Daniel soon proved himself more capable than all the other administrators and high officers. Says, "Because and because of Daniel's great ability, great ability." The process of living an excellent life involves self-development, personal development, personal growth, ensuring that you expose yourself to the highest quality of resource that can bring about the manifestation of your peak potentials, your full potentials. Whatever talent, whatever ability, whatever personal strength, whatever endowment that God has given you, you have to develop it to the highest level. And soon certain things will begin to happen. People will observe, and people will begin to judge after some time that you are certainly more capable than so many others. So Daniel himself proved, Daniel soon proved himself more capable than all the other administrators and high officers because, and because of his great ability, the king made plans to place him over over the entire empire.

When you are excelling, you have a good character, you are honest, you are humble. Take note of these extra things I'm mentioning: honesty, humility, faithfulness, loyalty. When you match these four things with high performance, you will never be dropped. You will never be retrenched. Instead, you will be consistently promoted and given higher responsibilities to handle. Where we as Christians need to take special note is in the realm of these additional things, apart from performance. In the university, academically, you can raise yourself up, and you bring yourself to a point of academic, intellectual excellence. And that is the primary focus of the world today. It's good. However, for the Christian perspective, other things matter. Character matters. Morality matters. So wherever you find yourself, especially in positions of trust, you have to prove yourself faithful and loyal. You have to be honest. And these are very, very, very principal. And of course, as the promotion begins to happen, you have to be intentionally humble, consciously humble. So the king made plans to promote him above every other person. I pray for everyone listening today that God's oil of promotion will come upon you for a higher level. Let the Lord hear your amen.

He says, "So then the the other administrators and high officers began searching for some fault in the way Daniel was handling government affairs." So you need to also be conscious of this, that when you have these excellent qualities, it will also bring you special approval, commendation, promotion that some others who are not manifesting the same qualities would not get from the same quarters. So naturally, envy will begin to manifest. And envy, things like envy and jealousy are usually hidden and invisible. It is in the hearts of men. Envy will come up, jealousy will come up if truly you are manifesting excellence in every dimension. So, so the other administrators and high officers began searching for some fault in the way Daniel was handling government affairs, but they couldn't find anything. They couldn't find anything. They couldn't find anything to criticize or condemn. They couldn't find anything. And I challenge you therefore, as young men and women in the Lord, I challenge you to take a step further and serve. Serve in the church where God has positioned you today. Serve. In the process of serving, you will make yourself accountable, not not just for one major event. You make yourself accountable on a weekly basis. You give yourself an opportunity to begin to express your potentials in the realm of excellence in all, in all manifestations.

He said, "They could not find anything in him to criticize." Now, when you are serving, you will certainly be under some level of oversight. Some ministers, heads of department, leaders will be supervising you. Whatever are those little faults that you need to recognize in your life early enough, deal with them, overcome them. Submitting yourself in the system of a church workforce will enable you to discover this on time. He was, was Daniel was faithful, always responsible, always responsible, and completely trustworthy. He was faithful, always responsible, and completely trustworthy.

Excellence can be seen in different dimensions. The word excel means to do something far above average, far above average, far above average. And so it's clear that excellence is not, is not the norm in most third world countries, and that is also partially why they have remained on that level. Excellence is something that surpasses ordinary standards, ordinary standards. The Japanese have a management style called Kaizen, which means continual incremental improvement. It's a way of life, a philosophy that assumes that every area of your life deserves to be improved. It deserves to be improved.

There are many descriptions of a product, a service, performance standard, or environment that exhibits the attributes of excellence. Excellence manifests in different ways. It has to do with the way people handle and perform a role, duty, or assignment. It is the diligent execution of a role, a duty, assignment, or event to exact details, exact details, and precise timing. It could also be in whatever service you render. Excellence has to do with doing something very well, very, very well, doing things to the best known standards, the best known standards.

In Proverbs 22:29, Proverbs 22:29, New King James Version, it says, "Do you see a man who excels in his work? Who excels in his work? He will stand before kings. He will not stand before known men." Good News Translation says, "Show me someone who does a good job. Someone who does a good job." And if you are doing a good job, your family, friends, church would most often begin to patronize that product or service that you offer. Show me someone who does a good job. People who have encountered, who have used whatever you are offering, would refer their friends and others in need of that same service or product to you. Show me someone who does a good job, and I will show you someone who is better than most and worthy of the company of kings.

So living an excellent life is a pursuit of a level of life that is above the average level, the level of the generality of people. In The Message version of the Bible, it says, "Observe people who are good at their work. Skilled workers are always in demand and admired. They don't take a back seat to anyone." And there are at least 12 key attributes of excellence. One is consistent outstanding performance, consistent outstanding performance. Two, perfect and flawless, perfect and flawless. Number three, highly durable, highly durable. Number four, they are quicker and faster, quicker and faster, quicker and faster. Number five is user friendly, user friendly. Number six is safer and health friendly. Number seven is premium quality, premium quality. Equipments are not the same, tools are not the same, gadgets are not the same. But we run our lives in phases and according to what we have and available at a point in time. But we must continue to aspire for the very best that is available for anything we need to use in the, in the, in our journey of life and work. And so an excellent product is one that is of premium quality. Number eight is neatness, decency, and hygiene, neatness, decency, and hygiene. I like to emphasize this a lot because people that have no desire for excellence, they have no excuse with this eight point. Some of the other things we've mentioned will involve more money, higher cost, and those who don't like excellence would always easily want to use the higher cost as a reason to reject the better alternative. But excellence also involves neatness. It involves neatness, and neatness starts from you, your personal hygiene, personal neatness, personal hygiene. Number nine is hospitality and royal treatment, hospitality and royal treatment. Hospitality, it is part of excellence. It is part of excellence. Number 10 is beautiful appearance, beautiful appearance. Number 11 is quality packaging, quality packaging. Number 12, well maintained and up to date, well maintained and up to date.

Seven key characteristics of uh that could describe an excellent life. One, true excellence is intentional. It is not accidental. It is intentional. Two, it is repeated outstanding performance. Repeated outstanding performance. Excellence is not a single act. It's an ongoing high standard of personal performance. It's not a flash in the pan. Is a high standard of performance exhibited repeatedly or consistently over time. Excellence is typically ascribed to a lifetime of effort, not one excellent day or event. Number three, continuous improvement. Continuous improvement is a result of constant push to do better. Number four, integrity. Integrity. Excellence is verified not just by what you do, but how you do it. Yes, true excellence is confirmed not just by what you do, but how you do it. If someone is on steroids contrary to the rules for some athletic event, then whatever position, first or second or third, whatever record was broken, is no longer qualified in the realm of excellence because it was achieved through cheating and deception. So excellence is not defined by results alone, but also by how those results were obtained, how the results were obtained. Number five is service. The impact and benefit of service of excellence is not confined to just one individual, especially from the person that is being credited with excellence. True excellence should impact, should impact at least one other person. It should be of service to people. It should be of benefit to others. An excellent life is the one that is making a positive impact on other people, making a difference in the lives of other people. And number six, impacting more value. Impacting more value. Excellence impacts value to yourself and to other people, value to yourself and other people. Excellence makes things better. Excellence makes people better. Number seven, godly. Especially from the Christian perspective, an excellent life, and an excellent person, a person living an excellent life as a believer, as a Christian, must also be close to God. Must have a relationship with God. Must have a relationship with God. So an excellent life will be marked by a life dedicated in devotion to God, and to serving God, and God's people, and humanity.

Excellence, it's both a process and is also an as well as an outcome. It's being the best you can be in every situation, the best you can be in every situation. It's doing the best you can do in every endeavor, doing the best you can do. So it's a journey. As long as you keep on improving, you are on the right path. It is having the best you can have within your means, the best you can have within your means. And this is absolutely important for issues like education, especially when it is within your means. It also means to constantly improve in every ramification of your life and your endeavors. A process of doing things better and better in all aspects of your life, maximizing your potential, and living your best life. Excellence and excellence in life is about seeking personal growth, excelling in leadership, and becoming the best version of yourself, becoming the best version of yourself.