TR Hartley

What are your thoughts about the phrase “Do your best”?

Is that how God wants us to live? Or is that just a non-spiritual, worldly way of thinking that’s been given a “Christian shine”, like “cleanliness is next to godliness”?

Certainly, Scripture provides some counsel here. Two passages come immediately to my mind.

Ecclesiastes 9:10: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.” (NIV)

and

Colossians 3:23-24: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” (NIV)

These are some rich verses; there’s a lot we could unpack from these verses. To be brief though, here are a few things about these verses that stand out to me.

1) Both passages emphasize that the work of our days/lives ought to be done with intention and effort; there is an inherent nobility or goodness to “working hard.”

2) Ecclesiastes 9:10 helps us see that there is a limited time that people can be productive and work; there aren’t fields to plow in Sheol (the Hebrew realm of the dead). But, while we are alive in this world, we ought to apply ourselves to our work.

3) Colossians 3:23-24 emphasizes that our motivation for work should be to honor and serve Christ as our ultimate master. In this passage, Paul is instructing even people in indentured servitude to see their work in light of their heavenly master Jesus, not their earthly masters. Our lives are lived unto Him, we have an “audience of one“. (You can follow that link for an image of a life lived unto God that I’ve found helpful.)

But these observations just return us to the original question: What does it mean to do something “with all our might” (Ecc 9:10) or “with all your heart” (Col 3:23)?

Does that mean we need to give 100% effort in all things, at all times? When we don’t, are we failing to live out a God-given call to work and strive with excellence to honor God?

I think a lot of people would answer, “yes”. A common coaching cliche is “give 110%”, that you should give as much effort as you can, then push through that maximal boundary, and give a little bit more.

But if that’s so, how does that allow you to make priorities? How can you try harder if you’re always trying your hardest? How can you value living in a way that is sustainable?

A marathon runner doesn’t try to sprint the whole time, and someone who’s training their body for weightlifting will spend more time OUT of the gym than INSIDE of the gym.

An Example from My Life

When I was little, I had a really hard time making friends. I was bossy, manipulative, and demanding; other kids didn’t want to socialize with me. When I became a Christian, for the first time, I started making good friends. Suddenly, it was tremendously important to me to be a good friend.

I spent about the next 15 years prioritizing being a good friend. My understanding of the Kingdom was such that I thought, rightly perhaps, that there are few callings higher than being a truly good friend to the people around me.

So I had an “any-hour” policy. I let my friends know I was in their corner, on their side, and ready to help at any time. I told friends going through hard seasons that they could call me at any hour; there was nothing I would be doing at 3:00AM that would be more valuable than listening or helping.

That all changed when I became a father. I realized, almost immediately, that my son needed me, and my wife needed me, in a way that was unique. I couldn’t be an “any-hour” friend and be who I needed to be for my family.

I still value being a good friend. But that’s a lower priority than being a good Dad and husband to my family.

We all have capacities. Mental capacity, emotional capacity, time capacity, relational capacity. There is a limit to how far we can go.

And, my kids take up a LOT of my capacities. I can’t prioritize, simultaneously, being a good friend and being a good dad.

Why Does This Matter?

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.

Conclusion

So, if “do your best” isn’t a good standard, what’s a better standard?

Let’s go back to Colossians 3:23-24.

Live unto the Lord. Let your words, actions, decisions, moments, days, and years be lived unto the Lord.

Don’t make your standard “doing your best”. Seek to honor God in all you do. And keep in your mind that He was sufficient in our place, so that your life can be a life of grateful worship, not striving legalism.