An Excellent Spirit (Part One)
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It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom one hundred and twenty satraps, to be over the whole kingdom; 2 and over these, three governors, of whom Daniel was one, that the satraps might give account to them, so that the king would suffer no loss. 3 Then this Daniel distinguished himself above the governors and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king gave thought to setting him over the whole realm. Daniel 6:1-3 NKJV
It was that phrase, “an excellent spirit was in him”, that caught my attention recently as I was reading this passage of scripture. Daniel was living in a very difficult period of Israel’s history. His nation had systematically abandoned God, so He had abandoned them after warning them for generations. The Babylonian empire conquered them, destroyed Jerusalem, and carried off the Israelites into captivity. They’d lost their Promised Land. So Daniel finds himself captive in the capital of a pagan nation, in Babylon, a city whose name meant “gate of the gods”.
He’s young Hebrew boy exiled in a foreign land. Yet something about him causes Daniel to rise from virtual slavery to become one of the leaders of the most powerful empire of the day… and he does it without compromising his faith or his character.
The bible clearly shows us in v3 that it was Daniel’s “excellent spirit” that set him apart and gained him favor. In the simplest terms our spirit is in intangible part of us. We have a tangible being- our body, and we have an intangible, invisible being – our spirit. And if you’ve ever seen the body of someone who has died, you’ve experienced that sensation that “they aren’t there”, even though their body is.
To be excellent is to be extremely good, outstanding, exceptional. What comes to mind when you think of what it means to excel? To exceed? Excellence is the very nature of God – he is an exceedingly great God!
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Eph 3:20-21 NKJV (emphasis added)
But this is so important for us to understand because we can all cultivate an excellent spirit in us! It’s tempting to imagine that Daniel was just born with an excellent spirit. But the truth is that’s something we are responsible for cultivating in ourselves.
Not to mention that we had advantages that Daniel didn’t have as we pursue an excellent spirit in our own lives:
1. We have the mind of Christ (just think about the power of that alone) 1Cor2:16
2. We live under a better covenant than he did with better promises, thanks to Jesus Heb8:6
3. We can live live empowered by the Holy Spirit with spiritual gifts Acts1:8
4. And Jesus Himself is at the throne constantly praying for our success Rom8:34
Kings and heads of state, ambassadors and governors, are often called “Your Excellency” as a term of honor. But our Lord, Jesus Christ, is the very definition of excellence, so since we are being shaped in his likeness as follow Jesus, doesn’t it stand to reason that we should expect to see more and more of his excellence in our lives?
When Jesus made wine, he made the best wine.
When Jesus healed people, he healed them all.
When Jesus helped some fishermen, their nets were full to overflowing and their boat nearly sank.
When Jesus fed a crowd, everyone ate until they were full and still twelve baskets of food were left over.
Jesus did everything with excellence.
I think it’s healthy for all of us to take a personal inventory and ask ourselves the hard question…
Am I doing what God has given me to do in this life with an excellent spirit?
You can bring an excellent spirit to anything you do.
If you’re doing spreadsheets… do it with excellence
Cleaning your apartment… do it with excellence
Teaching a class… (ditto)
Cooking a meal for someone… (you know the drill)
Volunteering for a cause…
Navigating a hard season…Do it all with an excellent spirit!
And of course sometimes that means saying no to some things when life gets too full. You can’t do with excellence the things God is calling you to do if you’re overloaded with things he isn’t.
I actually believe that an excellent spirit is even more valuable than gifts and talents. But to find out why, you’ll have to read the second half of this post… Part Two coming soon.
(to be continued)
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