Several years ago, he also wrote a piece for the Journal of the Evangelical Homiletics Society in which he challenged his readers to do more than just the bare minimum. On this first full week of another unfolding year, I thought I would post it here.
I will do more than belong.— I will participate.
I will do more than care. --I will help.
I will do more than believe. --I will practice.
I will do more than be fair. --I will be kind.
I will do more than forgive. --I will forget.
I will do more than dream. --I will work.
I will do more than teach. --I will inspire.
I will do more than earn. --I will enrich.
I will do more than give. --I will serve.
I will do more than live. --I will grow.
I will do more than suffer. --I will triumph.
Maybe that is not a bad motto to live by this coming year – this business of doing more than just the bare minimum. The admonition of Holy Scripture (Ecclesiastes 9:10) is as follows:
“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.”
Given this, perhaps we all should be a bit more committed to excellence in the things we do. No doubt our Lord will be pleased. And the world will invariably be a better place as well.
*SOURCE: Journal of the Evangelical Homiletics Society (June 2003), p.12. Dr. Robinson's faculty web address at G-CTS is: http://www.gordonconwell.edu/academics/view-faculty-member.
cfm?faculty_id=15929&grp_id=8948.