As Good As I Can Do

My grandchildren (they’re seven now) recently had friends over for a play date. As they sat down to dinner that evening Andy said to their guests, “We have to have a prayer before we eat. I’ll say it.” He proceeded to thank God for their food, for their friends, and even prayed for the sick. When he had said “Amen,” he looked up and exclaimed, “That’s as good as I can do!”

What an attitude! That’s all God wants from any of us. Just give it our best shot.

If we do the best we can, He will not ask more of us. When it comes to prayer, He really is not interested in our grammar, nor whether or not we use those oft repeated phrases that have become too common in public prayer. He wants us to speak from the heart. It does not have to be long or follow a prescribed pattern, as long as it is according to His will and in the name of Jesus.

When it comes to living the Christian life, He knows our limitations and weaknesses.

He doesn’t demand perfection, but He does expect faithfulness. Even Christians sin, but we must not be slaves to sin. We wake up each morning determined to make the most of the day. We want to serve Him, not in order to be saved, but because we are saved. Some days are harder than others. Sometimes we fail miserably, but our goal ought to be, because we are His children, to do as good as we can do.

Worship involves the same approach. We want to bring to the assembly the best we have to offer.

We will immerse ourselves in every aspect of worship with the desire to do our best. Every note we sing will not be flawless, our mind will tend to drift, and we may even lose sight of the fact that we assemble to worship Him, not entertain ourselves, but if we seek to give Him our best, He will not demand more than that from us.

The prophet Malachi indicted his contemporaries when he wrote for God: “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’ By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ By saying that the Lord’s table may be despised. When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the Lord of hosts” (Malachi 1:6-8). God deserved and demanded the best, but they gave Him the blind, lame and sick. He was not pleased, nor is He pleased when we offer anything less than our best today.

What a difference it would make if we resolved each day to do our best in prayer, in worship, and in service to our Lord!