When George Gershwin was a young struggling musician he applied for a job at the office of the famous and well established composer, Irving Berlin.

Berlin looked over the qualifications of his young applicant and said to him, ”I’ll pay you double the salary that you are now making to come and work for me. My advice to you would be for you to turn it down. If you accept, and become my employee, you will become a second rate Berlin but if you will persevere and continue to struggle on your own, you will become a first rate Gershwin.” Needless to say, George Gershwin did turn down the offer and went on to become a famous composer in his own name.

There is a temptation to all young people to admire the characteristics of someone older, and attempt to copy their style, their delivery as a speaker, their mannerisms, perhaps even their material. By doing this they become a second rate copy of the one they admire when they should have realized that no two people have ever been made alike, not even identical twins.

God does not want us to compare ourselves to one another. We can always find someone to compare ourselves to, that makes us feel superior. We can also find someone to compare ourselves to that makes us feel inferior. When we look at the one, we think, ”Well, I am not so bad after all.” or ”I can never play the piano like him or sing like her or speak as he does, so why try.” Paul tells us that ”we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.”

God only expects each of us to do our best for Him. He does not expect us to do someone else’s best, for we are not someone else. We are different. God made us each different and He knows that there is someone who can do anything we do better and someone who can not do as well. All He asks of us is, that we do the best we can do for Him.

The question we need to ask ourselves is this. Are we doing our best? If not, why not? We cannot justify our poor job by saying ”well, we just cannot do this as well as so and so.” That is not the question that is being asked. Are we doing the best that we can do? God will not be pleased with an halfhearted effort when He knows we could have done better.

We live in an age of mediocrity where it is uncommon to find people doing their best. ”Do just enough to get by,” seems to be the motto of our age and this attitude can become our way of life in our service to our God.

We might deceive others into thinking that we are doing our best, we may even fool ourselves, but we will never deceive God. He is watching everything we say, think, and do, and He knows if our efforts in His behalf are halfhearted or our very best.

Let us resolve to give God the best we have to give. We want to be the best person we can possibly be in the service of our King.

By adopting this attitude towards God, we will discover that not only our life in the truth will improve, but it will even affect our relationships with all those with whom we come in contact in our every day life.

Solomon instructed us saying, ”whatsover thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.” When we obey his wise advice we find that the joy of doing our best will help us become as good a person as we can be. If we can remember that letter D and then four B’s, it will serve to help us remember that doing our best is better than being the best. God will be well pleased with us if we have done our best. Doing your best is all that God asks of you, and that is better than being the best.