Soon Daniel distinguished himself above all the other presidents and satraps because an excellent spirit was in him, and the king planned to appoint him over the whole kingdom. (Daniel 6:3)
You remember Daniel, right? The young man we learned about on B = Boldness? Well, now he is all grown in Babylon and he has not relented in his standards. The Bible tells us, an excellent spirit was in Daniel. And that was the reason he was so distinguished above all his contemporaries. The context of this verse is the plot to kill Daniel by his contemporaries which ends up with Daniel spending a night in the lion’s den – check out Daniel 6 for more. Back to excellence.
Excellence is the virtue of being distinguished, standing out amongst all. Daniel at this time is a politically appointed leader, and he stands tall amongst all the other appointees. The enemy of excellence in my observation is called average, good enough. Our children are daily being enticed to be average; to flow with the crowd; to just be good enough; to just do enough to get by. We need and we must teach them about excellence and the fact that it is a different kind of spirit. A distinguishing spirit that comes from God.
Question of the Day: Make a list of ways you will nurture excellence in your children? Then start doing it.
PRAYER
Father, it is you who deposited in Daniel of old an excellent spirit. We ask this day for that spirit in us and in our children. That as we live in this world we would be people associated with excellence in every area of our lives. In Jesus Name we pray, Amen
