Becoming a Woman of Excellence (Part 1)

Scripture Reading:  Book of Ruth

Main Scripture: "Now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you whatever you ask, for all my people in the city know that you are a woman of excellence. Ruth 3:11 (NASB)

The Motto for the high school I attended is “Strive for Excellence”.  Excellence is a goal of many world leaders, business people and just about anyone who desires to be successful. In today’s scripture reading Boaz told Ruth that she is known as a “woman of excellence” in the city.

What is excellence?  And how do we become “women of excellence” like Ruth?

Excellence is defined as the quality of being outstanding or extremely good, achieving a high level of performance; exemplary performance; exceeding normal expectations of performance or meeting the highest expectations of what can be achieved. Another word for excellence is superiority. In other versions of the Bible, we see where excellence is translated as noble character, virtue, courageous, worth and strength.

Therefore we can conclude that a “woman of excellence” is a woman that is superior, exceeds normal expectations, of noble character, virtuous, courageous, worthy and strong. Therefore, in order to become “women of excellence” we must:

·         Become excellent in our thought – Our thoughts become our actions therefore as the Bible tells us in Phillipians 4: 8 … “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.” (NASB)  

·         Become excellent in character – What you display can shape your reputation (what others think about you). Not only did Ruth have a good reputation, but her character was the talk of the town. A person with a character of excellence displays politeness, honesty, compassion, respectfulness, loyalty, reliability and fairness.

·         Become excellent in your speech – The Bible tells us that life and death is in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21). As such excellence demands that we speak positively, not negatively, be slow to criticize and quick to praise. A women of excellence speaks less and listens more and is even–tempered (Proverbs 17:27)

Ladies remember today, “Excellence is a habit not an act, it takes practice and perseverance.”