A Formula for Excellence

“Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.”

Psalm 33:3

Occasionally, I find myself playing marbles with diamonds. I forget what I’m handling when I pick up my Bible. Colleges and universities strain to invent motivation for their pupils to excel. Corporations have team meetings to coin some phrase to inspire production in a workforce. Therapists investigate their clients to see what makes them tick. But all you have to do is pick up a Bible, and you have every human personality spelled out for you by the Mastermind who Created them.

A basic urge of man is to create. Mankind are naturally inventive, sometimes in beneficial ways, sometimes in destructive and evil ways. One of the ways man invents is in the art of music. Music is an expression everyone is capable of. People enjoy music at different levels. Some are satisfied to hum or whistle. But others strive to create masterpieces in their music.

In music, as David brought back the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem fro m Obed-Edom’s house, he appointed many musicians. One group of them, the second order of musicians were set, “with harps on the Sheminith to excel.“ (1 Chronicles 15:21)

Wouldn’t you like your service to God to excel?

What is the secret to excellence?

Effort

This verse carries the wisdom of the ages in one phrase. We have seen this played out in every scene of our life. The inventor, Thomas Edison, famously said that the key to invention was 1% inspiration, and 99% perspiration. Effort.

The verse says, “play… with a LOUD noise.” It is HARD to play the trumpet soft ly. It was not made for background music. It leads the charge. And you love to hear it played that way!

It takes effort to bring that kind of music out of a trumpet. It takes the red faced, throbbing lunged pressure of a committed musician. And you can tell the effort by the volume!

My band director used to joke that when the trumpet section saw the expression ‘p‘ – for ‘piano’ or ‘soft’, they interpreted it as ‘p‘ for ‘powerful‘! They were known for being loud and bold. That effort is the first ingredient to excellence.

Effort + Skill

But you can put up a tremendous effort, and still not be excellent. It takes more than raw force to make anything excellent. You can be loud and yet be just obnoxious noise; a far cry from excellence. It takes a trained application of force. That is skill.

Again, the verse says, “play SKILFULLY with a loud noise.” The Lord loves a perfect performance. He demands nothing less. The Bible shows that He punishes those who try to seek Him outside of the “due order.” (See 1 Chronicles 15:13)

But the God of perfect performance understands the indispensible part that persistent practice makes. Concerning John the Baptist, whose potent ministry lasted just a few years, the Bible records that “he was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel.” (Luke 1:80) John spent MORE of his life preparing for his ministry than he actually did fulfilling it. Time spent in practice outnumbered the actual days performing.

In this formula for excellence, skill is “familiar knowledge of any art… united with readiness and dexterity in execution or performance.” (Webster’s 1828) Effort is not more valuable than skill, but they are best when they are partners. Of John the Baptist and his lifetime of preparation and the effects it had, Jesus said, “Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist:” (Luke 7:28) Skill must be added to effort.

Effort + Skill + Purpose

General Umberto Nobile was an audacious zeppelin pilot. He forged the path for powered flight travel over the north pole in the 1920’s. He pushed the limits of what could be done. It cost him many years, many friends, and one terrible accident. He risked his life in an airship called the Italia to make his country first to commute over the north pole; and it ended in disaster. His country repaid his loyalty by suspending his military career and forcing him to exile to America for over two decades. He put out great effort and demonstrated unmatched skill, but it would never gain him what he hoped, because his grand purpose fell under the facist flag of Italy ruthlessly ruled by Benito Mussolini.

General Nobile was excellent, but for a thankless nation. His early life’s adventures were wasted advancing the wrong purpose. The fascism that would soon morph into communism would align Italy with the ‘big three’ of the Axis Powers: Italy’s Benito Mussolini, Japan’s Emperor Hirohito, and Germany’s Adolf Hitler.

In summation, if all of your skill and effort are poured into the wrong cause, you will never know excellence. Psalm 33:3 says, “Sing unto him a new song.” The Lord will accentuate the talent that is given exclusively to Him. He is what makes a sacrifice ultimately worth it, no matter how big or small, known or unknown. A greater cause- magnifying Jesus Christ- is the last element of true excellence. Prepare well, perform with all your might, and do it to please the Lord Jesus. That is the ‘secret’ formula of true excellence.

Renewing Excellence

In the Bible, the “new song” is mentioned a few times. To us today, those new songs are old- they were recorded in the Scriptures and given in English long ago in 1611. What makes them new? Perhaps old words coupled with a new zeal for excellence is what God is looking for in His “new song.”

So don’t just muffle your service of praise to God. “Sing unto the Lord a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise!”

“And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.”

Colossians 3:23-24

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