Thursday - Proverb 17 - Good, Better or Best

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ERE is a little lesson on comparatives and superlatives.  There are some good and important lessons associated with these grammatical differentiations.  Let's instead consider a few examples.  In the description of a thing, one might say that it is either good or bad.  Additionally, when comparing the original thing with another, one might say that either one is better or worse.  Finally, if you find the one thing which is absolutely unique, elite, intense or otherwise exclusively different than all others, one might say that such a thing is the best or worst.  So, good, better or best; bad, worse or worst; high, higher or highest; some, more or most... in the realm of spirituality it is always wise to consider not only what the minimum is, but also what the maximum looks like.

We may sometimes tend to look around wondering what we can "get away with" or how much will be just enough for us to "get by" - so to speak.  Yet, even when good is found, there is almost always something better to strive toward.  Again, even when we have discovered something better, there are more stages of "better" and an eventual "best" toward which we should always strive.   Of course, if we ever find that by God's grace we have moved on to higher ground, we must be so very careful not to become proud by comparing ourselves to others who might appear to us to be only settled still on the lower high ground which we once inhabited.  I should compare myself to my former self and my potential self, not to my neighbor.  I should measure myself by God's standard as revealed in the Bible and in Christ... in this way, there will always be a highest ground that we look up to with anticipation and holy ambition.

We should all strive for excellence in all that we choose to do (Ecclesiastes 9:10 and Proverbs 17:7 & 27).  Do your best.  Give God your best.  Be your best.  Get His best (1^st Corinthians 9:24).