By Geoff Mills
“Gentlemen, we are going to relentlessly chase perfection, knowing full well we will not catch it, because nothing is perfect. But we are going to relentlessly chase it, because in the process we will catch excellence. I am not remotely interested in just being good.”
These were the words of the late Vince Lombardi in his first speech to the team as head coach of the Green Bay Packers. Lombardi went on to lead his team to five championship titles, including Super Bowls I and II. Coach Lombardi had no illusions that perfection was attainable. In the pursuit of perfection; however, he and his team found excellence. But there’s more to excellence than winning championships.
In our reThink48 series we’re considering Paul’s instruction to the Philippians. “Finally, brethren, 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.” (Philippians 4:8, NASB95) This entry explores “if there is any excellence.”
What is Excellence?
The English word excellence is translated from the Greek word arete. According to some Greek lexicons, arete refers to “quality of character” and “a virtuous course of thought.”
Arete is used four other places in the NASB New Testament. Peter uses the word to describe God’s admirable qualities (2 Peter 1:3, 2:9) and to encourage believers to pursue virtue (2 Peter 1:5).
So both Paul and Peter use arete to encourage their readers to gravitate toward the admirable quality of God’s character and his virtuous way of thinking.
Merriam-Webster defines excellence as “the state of being very good of its kind” or “the state of being eminently good.” These definitions of excellence build on the meaning of arete by including the concept of goodness.
Synthesizing these sources, we could define excellence as the state of being eminently good, possessing admirable quality of character and pursuing virtuous courses of thought.
The Opposite of Excellence
Opposites of excellence include words like shabby, shoddy, poor, inferior, and unexceptional. Think of a time when you purchased products or services from an unexceptional vendor whose inferior quality left you with a poor impression of the seller.
When I was a boy, I used some of my hard-earned money to buy a leather horse whip at a local fair. I thought that if I just had that leather whip, I could lash it around tree branches and swing across great chasms like Indiana Jones. But the tip of my brand new Indiana Jones weapon began to unravel on the first crack of the whip. Not only were my dreams of fame shattered, but I never returned to that vendor because of the poor quality of the product they had sold me.
In re-thinking Paul’s encouragement to dwell on excellent things, perhaps the opposite of excellence presents an equally compelling converse. “Don’t waste your time on the inferior and unexceptional.”
Coach Lombardi made it clear to his team in his very first speech: “I am not remotely interested in just being good.” He was saying, “We are not going to settle for anything less than what we are capable of becoming.”
Perfection, A False Friend of Excellence
In the realm of languages “false friends” are words that look and sound alike but have completely different meanings. For example, the word preservativi in Italian looks and sounds like it should mean preservatives in English, as in, the additives used to extend the shelf life of food. However, this word is actually used to refer to a form of birth control, a profoundly different meaning.
In a way, the false friend of excellence is perfection. Excellence sounds like it should mean the same thing as perfection, but it doesn’t. Perfection refers to an unachievable state marked by the absence of even the slightest flaw. Whereas, excellence refers to an achievable state marked not by the absence of flaws, but by the presence of such goodness, quality, and virtue that the flaws are of little consequence.
One illustration of the difference between excellence and perfection is found in the process of joining two pieces of iron by welding them together. The welding process inevitably introduces hundreds of tiny micro-cracks where the weld meets the metal. A perfect weld would be one without any micro-cracks. Such a weld does not exist. But an excellent weld is one that creates a strong and durable joint that exceeds the requirements despite the presence of inevitable micro-cracks.
Coach Lombardi took his team to win the first two Super Bowls in 1966 and 1967 but lost 2 games and 4 games in those two years. The Green Bay Packers were an excellent team, not a perfect team.
Pursuing Excellence
So how, then, should we apply Paul’s encouragement to focus our lives on whatever is excellent? We can be reminded that God himself is most excellent. He is the standard of what it means to be excellent. His goodness, virtue, and quality of character are beyond compare.
We can recognize that we are made in the image of God. That means we have the excellence of God in us. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10) No amount of hard work or determination is sufficient by itself. We have a measure of His excellence in us because He made us.
We can trust God to draw out his excellence in us, rather than fixating on perfectionism. There are both good and evil forces at work in the world and in us. But we can trust that God will continue to bring out the excellence in our lives, despite the flaws and imperfections we find in ourselves and in others. “For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13)
And finally, we can be at peace. We don’t have to run out of breath in the pursuit of excellence. Yes, we work hard. Yes, we commit ourselves wholeheartedly to the tasks at hand. But, if we’re getting stressed out and depleted then those are signs that we need to trust God more and not lean solely on our own understanding and strength.
God is excellent. He has put his excellence in us. We trust God to work out His excellence in us and in those around us. And we rest in the peace that comes from that trust.
If there is any excellence, dwell on these things.
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