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Recently, upon watching Kobe Bryant artfully complete an improbable jump shot, a commentator exclaimed, “Folks, that’s the best you’ll ever see!” And then his partner jumped in to add, “And, folks, that’s the best you’ll ALWAYS see.”

When I heard those words they ignited something deep inside me, and I thought, “I want that to be MY living epitaph.” I want my best life to be the life that those around me consistently see. I don’t want to occasionally touch my true potential, I want to offer God, my loved ones, and the world around me the best service I possibly can. Don’t you want to do that too? Anyone can periodically come through in the clutch, but to be a person of excellence that consistently pays the price to function at their optimum level in the key areas of their life is a rare thing.

The Apostle Paul calls us to this rarity when he says in Colossians 3:23, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” Jim Eliot, martyred missionary in Ecuador, echoed this sentiment when he said, “Wherever you are, be all there. Live every experience to the hilt for the glory of God.”