13TH JANUARY
Daniel 6:3
“Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other presidents and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.”
In Daniel 6, we find that Daniel’s old boss, King Belshazzar, is gone and a new boss named Darius is in charge. Daniel’s new boss is a pagan who cares nothing for the religion of Daniel or his God. Darius the Mede is the second most powerful man in the world and not one who accepts inferior work, laziness or excuses.
Darius appoints 120 governors to help him rule the kingdom. He also appoints three commissioners to rule over the all the governors. Daniel is appointed to be one of these three commissioners and with time he gains Darius’ respect so much that the Darius plans to put him in charge over the whole kingdom.
What did Daniel do to impress Darius? The Bible says that Daniel had a spirit of excellence. Daniel excelled in his work not because he was trying to impress Darius, but because he was trying to please God.
You might think “But you don’t know how horrible my manager is! You don’t know how rude my co-workers are! I hate my job!” Think about Daniel’s work environment. He was a slave. He lived in a foreign land, under the authority of a pagan king who had absolute power over his life. Also, his co-workers were evil schemers who wanted him dead. Daniel didn’t have perfect work conditions. However, he chose to do his job extraordinarily well.
MAKE IT PERSONAL
Reflect on this quote by John W. Gardner and how you could apply it in your workplace: “Excellence is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.”