When someone says, “Just do your best”, what do they
really mean? Do they want you to toil and sweat, to stay up late and push
yourself like you have never pushed before? Do they want you to reach further,
whatever the cost, in order to be the best that you can be? Most definitely
not! They don’t really mean “Do your best”, but rather, “Do what you need to do
to just get by”. This common phrase, far from encouraging individuals to truly
aspire to greatness, in reality fosters just the opposite—complacency and
mediocrity. When teens and young adults hear this phrase, we are not motivated to reach higher and
further than ever before, but are given permission to get by with just the bare
minimum. When asked if we’ve done our
best, most of us will quickly respond with “Yeah, I did my best.” In reality, however, few of us have. What we really mean in our answers is “I gave
it a shot…that will have to do.” In a
very crafty way, our society has become an expert at encouraging mediocrity
indirectly. We know that to boldly state, “just get by”, would be so obviously
wrong, for it so blatantly encourages laziness. The expression “just do your
best”, however, is our culture’s way of excusing mediocrity under the guise of
motivation. Our culture has set low expectations for teens and young adults, and
as long as we can believe that we are doing our “best” while really slacking
off, our half-hearted efforts will be enough to satisfy those around us.
Today’s culture has set low expectations for its
young people, low expectations which end up trapping and limiting young members
of society (and even those who are older) for no good reason. Our culture isn’t the only one to blame,
however—like most people, we teens and young adults like our comfort zones and
the low expectations that surround us.
Why should we attempt big challenges when, by our culture’s standards, we
are already “good enough”? Most of us
are content with where our culture has set the bar and we don’t want it raised
since that would take us from our worlds of comfort. We see these low expectations
in many different areas, especially as teens and young adults are expected to
be increasingly immature, irresponsible and incompetent. This can be seen in
that the “teen” or “young adult” years are getting longer and longer, whereby
we are seeing men and women in their thirties and forties still acting like
children. Such men and women are not consistent, they are not stable, and they increasingly
unable to make decisions and transition into adulthood. In fact, this insane
behavior is even becoming socially acceptable, and all in the name of
“youthfulness”, “experimenting” and my favorite—“freedom”. Well, what I’d like to ask is, what about our
God-given responsibility to grow and mature into young men and women after His
own heart? Men and women who are in His
Word and pursuing His will? Men and
women who are secure in God’s sovereignty and are therefore willing to step out
of their comfort zones in faith? As
teens and young adults we are are no longer littler children, and so it’s time
we stop meandering through life as if we were.
The phrase “Just do your best” is a trap because it
allows us to get away with giving less than our best. Young adults and even teens do have the
ability to accomplish great things, but most of us have let fear and discomfort
limit what we attempt—we are unwilling to take a risk and step outside of our
comfort zones. This phrase keeps us from
moving out of our comfort zones while allowing us to excuse our pitiful performance and behavior—or lack of
it. As a result of this, many of us make
excuse after excuse, such as, “I’m bad with numbers”, “My brain just doesn’t
work that way”, “I’m just not a people person”, and even “I just don’t know
what God wants for me”. Herein lies the
problem. Telling ourselves that we are already doing our best and excusing our
mediocre efforts, we fail to push ourselves beyond what comes easily and
naturally for us. But that is what we need
in order to grow and mature—in spite of our many fears, we must take those scary steps outside our comfort zones even though
we may feel very much alone. Yes, it is
here outside our comfort zones that we will be most tested. However, it is also here that we will be most
astounded as we experience the growth and changes in Christ that we never
thought possible.
Before moving on, I would like to
take a moment to address the last example from the common excuses one may hear
today, especially in Christian circles.
The phrase “I just don’t know what God wants for me” sounds all good and
spiritual, but it can be a cover-up for indecision and many other crippling elements. I have no doubt that most of us have the best
intentions surrounding discerning God’s will.
However, too often we fall into the trap of over-spiritualizing our
decisions, to the point that we don’t make any decision at all—we simply stay
where we are and continue to say “I just don’t know what God’s will is for my
life”. I love how Tim Keller described
it in one of his sermons: He told how he frequently speaks with men and women
in his church who are trying to discern God’s will for their lives. They come to him, asking him for advice and
pleading with him to show them God’s will.
His response? “You’re standing in
it.” Yes, if we are whole-heartedly
pursuing our God, we are standing in His will!
We may not know what God wants every step of the way, in fact, we often
don’t—we know God has a plan for out lives, but often that plan is not revealed. It is for this reason that God gave us minds
to think, whereby He invites us to take risks for Him as we step out in faith
and obedience. God works as we move
forward.
Overall, we young adults and teens have come to measure
ourselves against a standard the culture has set, but that standard and the
expectations that come with it has been set way too low. We are expected to be self-centered,
rebellious, irresponsible and the like.
We are expected to be poor managers of time, wasteful, and carefree. The
phrase “Just do your best” has not helped the situation of most teens and young
adults. Rather, it has only reinforced the message that the culture is feeding
us—or better yet, the lie the culture feeds us. We have been given the perfect
excuse to sit back, relax, and enjoy our teen years, free of any real
responsibility or accountability. Sadly,
when one of us rises above these incredibly low expectations which society has
fostered, we are labeled as “above average”, when in reality we are simply
doing what we ought. Unfortunately, most of us feel special about being “above
average” and fail to realize that “above average” when the bar is set so low is
anything but commendable—we are labeled as exceptions merely for meeting skimpy
requirements. This is a tragedy, for most of us have never actually pushed
ourselves hard enough to find out what we are truly capable of. We are capable
of so much more, yet we rarely go beyond the minimum of what is expected and
required. God has given us this time,
but for many, our teen and young adult years, with so much potential, are being
wasted.
