Being Your Best Self

Runners and other athletes measure their progress and success as they compare their activities against their Personal Best. The goal is to be better, faster, and stronger. It isn’t always about coming in first, second or even 25th place, but how did I do compared to my best?

Translate that idea to your daily spiritual walk. As you engage your family, co-workers, classmates, neighbors, fellow shoppers, and others, how did your daily walk compare to your best self? Am I doing good today? Am I showing Jesus’ love today? Did I walk a walk that encouraged someone else today to do better? Did my example open a door for someone to seek truth? As you seek to be your best self, there is only one good comparison for which to strive – Christ.

 

We know that Paul evaluated himself. We see the many times he recalled his past (as Saul). Even in Romans 7:15 he says, "I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”

Is every day perfect? No. Is every day better than yesterday? No. Do we often confuse ourselves, as Paul did, by doing the things we know we shouldn’t do? Yes. But even while admitting that “I do the very thing I hate,” Paul also says in 1 Timothy4: 7-8, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing."

Paul wanted to be his best self. every day. It is that race, that battle, that daily effort, that helps us reach the finish line. 1 John 1:7 says, “if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”

Our God, through His Son, cleanses us on that journey. The journey we are on is so much more important than any athletic event. Our race is an eternal one with an eternal prize. If athletes are so focused on being their personal best, shouldn’t we also be focused on being our best? In 1 Corinthians 9:25, Paul tells us that every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we do it to receive an imperishable prize.

As we race toward eternity with our Father, work every day to be your best self. Prayerfully examine the missteps and start a fresh day tomorrow with the same goal, to be your best self!