TR Hartley

(This testimony is duplicated in my post, “To What Standard Should We Live?“

I grew up in the 90s. I, like most of my generation, heard over and over again, “Just do your best.” “If you try your hardest, that’s enough; that’s all anyone can ask.”

And those are good words, a good sentiment. But the lesson I internalized was less helpful.

I have a deep seated belief that my best, trying my hardest, will be good enough.

That if I “give 100%”, I will succeed. 

Because I have that deep-seated belief, if I am not doing well or good enough, I “know” that it is because I am not actually trying hard enough.  I must not be giving my best, because my best will be good enough.

What is trying my best look like?  For example, how much time do I have to pray before teaching or preaching for it to be “my best”?  

My best is an unsustainable standard.  I can’t live at “my best”.  And my best, or trying my hardest, won’t guarantee success, even when I do that.  

At the core of Christianity is the reality that our best CANNOT be sufficient.  We are ultimately entirely dependent on Christ’s best, not ours, because His effort is sufficient and successful, and ours never has, never is, and never will be.

The metric of faithfulness isn’t and can’t be “did I try my best?”.  It MUST be, “Did I do this in a way that keeps my eyes on Christ’s sufficiency, and do it in a way that God is honored by?”

That is the only way to live a life on mission without getting burned out by impossible standards.