![[Graphic of excellence]](https://www.deankwilson.com/Blog_images/excellence.jpg)
| And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ… |
| —Philippians 1:9-10 |
God-breathed love (agape) is the source of many positive elements within the lives of those who follow Jesus. As the Apostle Paul writes to the Christians gathered at Philippi in the verse above, abounding love brings forth knowledge and discernment. These latter two qualities are necessary if we are to become able to give our approval to those things that are excellent.
Excellence seems more and more elusive in this day in which we live. Our society has apparently decided that the words “good enough” will serve as the standard by which all behavior, accomplishments, work product, moral decisions, and a host of other life events will be judged. No one seems willing to strive for the very best.
You may have heard the phrase attributed to Voltaire: “Best is the enemy of good.” Or, in contrast, you may have read the book by Jim Collins entitled: Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t. These diametrically opposed philosphies give us good insight into the competing ideas that struggle to ensnare our culture. For now, among the people in our nation, Voltaire seems to have won—at least for the moment.
In schools today, teachers focus on telling students all the negatives with which our nation has struggled and they minimize all of the truly wonderful positives our unique nation has accomplished. Instead of balancing the bad with the good, they focus only on the bad.
Many of our political and social leaders seem to have followed this same pattern found in our schools: emphasize only the bad about our nation and completely ignore the good. This form of national self-loathing allows people to subscribe to a philosophy that the United States is all bad. Why do teachers and other leaders do this?
History has shown quite clearly that in order to control a large group of people, evil leaders must create within the populace a spirit of negative thinking that will wear down their will to maintain a rigorous sense of value, a solid foundational sense of well-being, and their impetus to strive for a higher level of excellence.
If you carefully study the history of the United States, you will find that, from the very beginning of our unique form of government, there were individuals who tried to cast a pall of negativism over the great experiment that became the United States of America. This same striving to distract and ruin through negativity takes place today.
In our spiritual lives, Satan”s principal role is to try to convince us to always view our own lives, and the circumstances in which we find ourselves, as a overwhelmingly negative. If he can convince us, then he can control us.
Our great protection lies within the open and loving arms of our Lord and Savior. The Apostle Paul urges the early Christians to let their love abound more and more. With love abounding, they will experience knowledge and discernment that will lead to them becoming increasingly able to approve what is excellent. From excellence, they will be able to become pure and blameless, looking forward to the day of Christ’s return.
Do not allow yourself to become convinced that we live in a fatally flawed nation. Yes, the history of our nation—including our present day—does have flaws. But, those flaws do not permanently doom us to destruction.
The heartbeat of God still prevails within the souls of His chosen people, including you and me, pointing us to the truth and filling us with positivity. As we allow the love from God to abound more and more in us, we will gain greater knowledge and discernment that will lead to an excellence that will preserve us from the evil that seeks to destroy us.
