People, whether they’re 2 or 82, know when you’re doing your bare minimum. Bare minimum does not win hearts. Can you imagine if Moses as he was leading the children of Israel decided to show up once a week? Can you imagine if Paul had decided after one or two times in jail that he should probably give the whole preaching Christ thing a rest? Can you imagine if Christ had asked God, “Well, how long exactly do I have to hang on that Cross in order to offer salvation to a majority of the souls instead of all of them?” Yeah, it’s pretty ridiculous when we start talking about bare minimums being enough.

People who work in the ministry far too often view “fine,” “okay,” or “good enough” to be worthy of growth in their ministries, but we don’t see much in the way of results when we do that, do we? The ones who win the most souls are the ones with the most passions for souls. The ones who win the most growth numerically and spiritually in their followers are the ones who give their work the best effort and not merely their bare minimum.

I know: we have every excuse we can think of as to why we can humanly not perform our best. We’re too tired, too strung out, too stressed, not well paid enough, not well supported enough, don’t have enough praise from the pastor, don’t have enough thank-yous from the people we work for, we’ve got our families and jobs (if we’re not full time) and friends and kid’s soccer games and Facebook and Instagram and Twitter and the news and… every excuse out there. But is ministry about us or about others?

There will be days when you’re exhausted. There will be days when you are emotionally spent. You will need to know your limits, know when to say no, and make sure you’re not depending on your power but on God’s power (because He glories so, so much better in our weakness than in our strength). But what regrets would you have if you gave every day you work in your particular ministry just an “okay” effort to be “good enough?”

If you’re going to be a nursery worker, be the best nursery worker for God’s glory. If you’re going to be a Sunday school teacher, be the best Sunday school teacher for God’s glory. If you’re going to be a pastor’s wife, be the best pastor’s wife for God’s glory. Strive for better than what you are now, do it all the glory of God, and your service will be successful. How can you become a better version of your calling than you were yesterday or the last time you served in that capacity? How can you be more organized, more intentional, and more spiritually prepared? Push for greatness all for the glory of God in your service! Make the choice to make “good enough” not good enough for your ministry.