Time for a little exercise. Raise your hands above your head. Not by your ears; all the way up. Put them down. Roll your shoulders; stretch a little. Now raise your arms back up. Did they go a little higher? I’m sure they did. Now . . . raise them another inch.
I bet you could do it, couldn’t you? That’s because you weren’t giving me everything you had—not the first time or the second time either. It took until that third try for you to realize I wanted you to give me everything you had. I wanted your hands all the way up.
God wants you to give it everything you’ve got, no matter what. “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving” (Colossians 3:23, 24 NIV).
He wants you to work with all your heart. Squeaking by on your test or purposefully slowing down in a race you won’t win or stuffing your dirty laundry under the bed isn’t working with all your heart. That’s working halfheartedly so you don’t get into trouble.
You don’t have to be the best, though, to do your best. If you studied and did your very best and still squeaked by on the test, you worked with your whole heart. If you ran the fastest you could and still finished last, you worked with all your heart. If the laundry you folded doesn’t look like your mom’s but you tried your best, that’s fine too.
Whatever you do, work as if you are working for God. Because you are.
