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.”

Mercy and Grace

Scripture Reading:  Lamentations 3

Main Scripture: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22- 23 (ESV)

Worship Song/Song to meditate on: The steadfast love of the Lord – Maranatha Singers (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PemhmovZRec)

Can you recall a situation as a child where you did something really rude and your mother found out, you knew that the belt was coming; however, instead of punishing you she simply warned you and gave you a treat. That’s called grace.  Although you deserved a fine spanking your mother gave you what you did not deserve.

Another example of grace is the Lord’s everlasting love for us no matter what we do. Lamentations 3:22-23 (ESV) states “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” In the same way that the Lord extends his mercies and grace to us, he wants us to extend them to others.

Ladies it can’t be easy to forgive or love the man who raped your daughter or the man who murdered your child. However, we are expected to.

While the examples above may seem extreme, consider the following that may hit closer to home. How do you treat your husband when he does something that you don’t agree with? What about the person, who cuts you off in the traffic, how do you treat that person?

The truth is sometimes we behave so badly, we often have to ask the other person for forgiveness and yes; we expect the person to extend mercy after we just shouted, cursed humiliated and insulted them. I know, I’m not perfect either, but if we start by doing some small things for example, a soft answer turneth away wrath.

No, you didn’t start the argument, you did not insult him first, however, you know better. The love of God that is within us will enable you to forgive and to answer calmly or just walk away. It is the principle of turning the other cheek. I know you are hurting and you want so badly to slap the person but ….

It might sound weird, but extending grace and mercy not only helps the person who offends us, it helps us too. Have you ever been upset with someone and it spoils your whole day, sometimes you’re so upset, you cannot even think straight. Well, I bet you, if you forgive the person, although the person did not deserve it, you would feel so much better.

This week do things for persons that they do not deserve remembering that Christ does the same for us all time.

Have a God Filled Day Ladies. 

Embracing Mistakes

Scripture Reading:  11 Corinthians 12: 7-10

Main Scripture: And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”  II Corinthians 12:9 (NKJV)

Worship Song/Song to meditate on: We Fall Down But We Get Up by Donnie McClurkin (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0tX_ctp0Gs)

Recently I had a deadline; however, I was so tired. I fell asleep and did not meet my deadline.  I felt really bad as several persons were depending on me and I felt like I failed. Then a friend of mine reminded me that I should take it as a lesson learnt as it only proves that I am human and I am not perfect.

As humans we are not infallible. While it’s excellent for us to set high standards for ourselves and attain them, there are going be times when we miss the mark. We all make mistakes and disappoint ourselves and others.  In these times we should not dwell on our mistakes, instead we should accept where we went wrong, learn from our mistakes, reassess our strategies and try again.  I like something that Ghandi said, He said “Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes”. Winston Churchill said “All men make mistakes, but only wise men learn from their mistakes.”

God himself knows that we are not perfect hence; he helps us to be strong. II Corinthians 12:9 tells us, "My strength is made perfect in weakness”. Therefore in order to become stronger, better and more experienced we make mistakes. Our mistakes will help us to adjust our attitudes, teach us humility and patience.

Mistakes also teach us to depend on God and others. Can you imagine if we were never any mistakes?  We would walk around as proud as a peacock. We would behave like we don’t need God or anyone else. Therefore, I think God divinely orchestrated it that we make mistakes sometimes. It keeps our heads small and makes us better.

Ladies today if you make a mistake, remember that you’re in good company. Successful people make a mistake, that’s how you grow.  They just never quit.

Have a God filled weekend.

Here are more Scriptures about strength and mistakes:

Ephesians 5:8

Psalm 37:24

Isaiah 41:10

Psalm 18:32-34