Components of Holistic Excellence

UV 1442/10,000 Components of Holistic Excellence
And David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed: for the LORD God, even my God, will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the LORD.
I Chronicles 28 v 20

Fear and disappointment are a source of weakness. Fear as someone rightly said can mean “forget everything and run” or “forget everything and rise” as well as “forget everything and rejoice.” David was asking the young Solomon to forget everything and rise as well as rejoice. David exhorted his son Solomon to be strong, physically, intellectually, emotionally and spiritually. David had developed his physical strength and some of his skills as a worshipper and a fighter even while he tended his father’s sheep. His courage was outstanding. Our strength increases proportionate to our courage and faith and diminishes proportionately with fear, worry and regret. David confronted his fears head on like when he took on and got the better of a lion, a bear and the biggest challenge, the giant Goliath. Belief can indeed turn an ant into the equivalent of a giant. But even the best of men is a mixture of strength and weakness. None of us is absolutely strong. Our strength is a mixture of strength and weakness. Only the Lord God is absolutely holy, absolutely loving, absolutely just, absolutely merciful, absolutely perfect. Even a courageous person has traces of fear just as no man breathes in pure air but oxygen moderated by carbon dioxide and nitrogen. The mixture of air slows down the burn rate. Perfection for the human being is more of strength and less of weakness. God fills the weakness or gap areas of our lives with His grace through our faith.

Every father desires that his children enjoy H2W2 or health, happiness, wealth and wisdom. David was encouraging his son to develop and maintain winning attitudes for with winning attitudes, if one wins, he wins. If he loses, he learns. In order to develop such winning attitudes, belief not just in the existence of God but His absolute goodness, absolute faithfulness and absolute strength are necessary and fundamental prelude. He encourages Solomon to adopt three beliefs that stood him in good stead in the vicissitudes of his own life and career: God is with us as Immanuel and Ebenezer or helper. He will not fail us. He will not leave us, forsake us or give up on us. He will help us finish well. David knew well that a habit of excellence includes four components: Belief, Attitudes, Skills, Knowledge or H=BASK. Whatever are the defects or deficiencies in our beliefs, attitudes, skills and knowledge, the Lord in His faithfulness and goodness will supply or rectify. We should root out disbelief and negative beliefs, root in positive beliefs, shoot up and fruit out.

We need to focus or concentrate our attention, our energy and our efforts. Whatever we do or attempt, we should do it in the service of the house of God. Everything we do is an act of worship and acknowledgement of the greatness of God. The templates that David gave Solomon for the building of the temple of God are a symbolic pattern for our lives and leadership. The pattern for the living temples that we build on the base of our own bodies should emulate the pattern of BASK. Our habits should ingrain in us beliefs that are excellent, attitudes that are excellent, excellent skills and excellent knowledge. An excellent spirit should inhabit us as it indwelled Daniel.

Prateep V Philip