What Is Repentance? Matthew 4:17

Mission Trip Day 9 - Deliver Excellence - What does repentance have to do with quality work. As I record this, yesterday, I committed to attend an after-hours meeting and I just forgot it. Clearly, missing a work meeting is not delivering excellence. But why must I repent?

The idea of repentance comes from a Greek word that means to change ones mind or behavior. In the New Testament, it always means change for the better. The reason why I include it here, in a conversation about delivering excellence at work is because of the change of mind that is required of me if I want to deliver excellence. I'm tempted to think only of myself. When I veg out late in the day, instead of thinking of others, I dropped the ball and missed the meeting. I wasn't putting others ahead of myself. So this morning, I needed to repent.

Do you always do your absolute best? It gets tiring. Sometimes we just want to veg out. Sometimes we need a little "me time." But the degree to which we can deliver quality work, we notify others of their importance. Notice among Jesus first words to the crowds were to repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. In God's kingdom, we operate according to his words and his wishes. In a kingdom, what the king says goes. When we do what we want, we are king. But when we choose to follow Jesus, we bring the kingdom of God to the forefront. 

I wonder if there are only 2 choices. Either I choose to follow God. Everything else is something else. That's why I need to do a 180, remind myself of my highest priority and ask for the strength to follow Jesus. When I do, I'll get the energy and creativity to do excellent work. And that excellent work will testify to my beliefs. Let's try that today.