<em>The</em> Best or <em>Your</em> Best: What’s the Difference?

Who do you consider to be today’s greatest professional athlete? Who, in your opinion, is the most talented musical artist or movie star? What about the world’s most successful entrepreneur? Whatever names leap to your mind, people possess a vast number of opinions about who is truly “the best.”

How do individuals become the best at what they do? It can be summarized this way: They dedicate an extraordinary amount of time, energy, focus and effort toward becoming better than everyone else, building on God-given talents and aptitudes.

In his autobiography, Chinese pianist Lang Lang recalled practicing five hours and 45 minutes daily since age five. Leading violinist Maxim Vengerov practiced his instrument eight hours a day from age five until he turned 20.

Serena Williams, recognized by many as the greatest female tennis player of all time, once stated: “All I know is that I do work very, very hard. The other day I was on the court for four hours with my coach and everyone was like, ‘OK, are you crazy?’ No, I’m just really intense. I work really hard. As long as you’re willing to do hard work, you’ll have everything.”

“Everything” would certainly include an impressive 23 Grand Slam singles titles—seven Australian, three French, seven Wimbledon and six U.S. Opens.

Stephen Curry, whom many consider professional basketball’s top shooter of all time, at one point reportedly took 500 shots per day in the summer and 200 to 350 shots per day during the season.

Lionel Messi, who many feel cemented his legacy as the greatest soccer player with Argentina’s recent World Cup victory, once said, “it took me 17 years and 114 days to become an overnight success.”

Being considered the best requires incredible time, effort and determination.

A crucial qualifier: to acknowledge someone as the best in their field is not an endorsement of their character. Often people considered the best in the world at what they do possess obvious character flaws. They throw tantrums. They can be cocky, bossy and smug to fellow musicians, teammates, family or friends. Still, these individuals generally worked hard to earn the title of “the best.”

God also emphasizes the importance of hard work. Look at what He commands in Ecclesiastes 9:10: “Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with your might.”

This verse is clear. You should put your all into whatever you do—work, push and strive for your best!

There is a crucial distinction here. Think about what this verse does not say. God does not command, “Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it better than everyone else.” Instead, He says, “do it with your might”—to the best of your abilities. There is a vast difference between aiming to be the best and your best. Knowing the difference and which one you should aim for is essential.

At the end of each Ambassador Youth Camp, awards are presented to outstanding campers and staff. They are selected for these honors not because they are better than everyone else at the various camp activities. Rather these individuals gave their very best at AYC—and helped others do the same.

The truly “best” people in life, as well as the best AYC campers, are not those who outdo everyone but those who strive to be their best at whatever they do for others!

The Greatest?

In the New Testament, even Jesus Christ’s disciples struggled with wanting to be better than each other. Mark 9 states that, while traveling, they “disputed among themselves, who would be the greatest” (vs. 34).

When they arrived, Jesus asked what they were arguing about. The Bible says that they all kept silent. None dared say, “Wait, Lord, not me. I was just watching and listening to everyone else argue.”

Think about the scene. One or more of the disciples fell into an arrogant attitude and began to focus on how they would attain a bigger leadership role in God’s government than the rest. Some who realized they might not be the best may have supported at least one of the others. It looks like they went back and forth for some time. Classic one-upmanship.

Jesus quickly addressed the issue: “If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all” (vs. 35).

Clear instructions—direct and to the point.

Yet, just as it can take time for us to learn vital lessons, the disciples did not immediately grasp that giving to others is more important than being better than them.

Just one chapter later, conflict again flared up between the 12. The struggle for being “the best” reared its ugly head when brothers John and James asked Jesus to grant them the seats to His right and left side in His glory. The brothers desired not just better seats, but the best ones they could possibly have! When the others found out, the Bible says that “they began to be much displeased” (Mark 10:41).

This time, Jesus counseled them not to behave like those in the world. He said, “so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: and whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many” (vs. 43-45).

Jesus was teaching them that, unlike those in the world, they should dedicate much of their time, energy, focus and effort toward being their best at helping others, not being better than others.

You may be able to recognize similarities in your thinking to what the disciples expressed in these accounts. As a teenager, you do not yet have God’s Spirit in you, which will occur at baptism. The same was true at the time for the 12 men Jesus was teaching. Yet remember that the Holy Spirit is working with you. You can apply Christ’s lesson now: Serving is more important than beating the competition.

Yet this is easier said than done! Nearly everything in society is driven by competition. Your natural inclination is likely to desire to be better than those around you. Or you may wrestle with the other extreme of not putting forth effort or even trying because you think you will never be good enough.

How can you resist these unhealthy attitudes?

What Is “Best”?

Understand that simply being the best at something is not wrong. The individuals we looked at earlier exhibited hard work, perseverance and resourcefulness. There is nothing wrong with this. The problem comes when being better than everyone else becomes your sole focus.

An all-consuming desire to be the top dog is self-centered. It is all about “me me me.” This mindset fosters greed, vanity, envy and hatred. Pushing yourself to be the best is a lot of work and can make you lonely—such an attitude tends to repel others.

The alternative is to dedicate the same time, energy, focus and effort toward becoming your best while also working to help others. This includes constantly pushing yourself to improve in whatever you do.

A study cited in a Forbes article corroborates this. Researchers at Find a Future found that, among those who signed up for school sports, “those who are more focused on winning tend to drop out early, while those interested in mastering a skill tend to persist.”

Trying to be the best is shortsighted. It will make you more prone to quit and miss out on building skills that are useful later in life. These include teamwork, persistence, following directions and self-improvement.

We can use sports at AYC to illustrate this. If your primary goal is to win at basketball, you will likely be disappointed after your first loss. After the second loss, you may become frustrated. After another failure, you will be unhappy and want to quit.

The other extreme is deciding not to do your best even before the first game because you have already decided that the other teams are better.

In contrast, losing becomes less important if your main goal is to improve or work toward mastering your ability. Despite losses, you are encouraged by the fact that you tried your best and others are noticing. Your interest in participating actually increases because there is satisfaction from playing better than before. Despite losing, you finish the activity happier and ready to engage in the next! You “persist,” as the study suggests.

Again, think of the activities at AYC or in other endeavors. Some situations and events require cooperation and collaboration to succeed. If you waste time, energy, focus and effort to show everyone that you are the smartest, strongest or fastest, everyone loses regardless of the results.

Think of it this way. When you focus on competition above all else, you are not just competing against opponents. You are competing against your teammates as well. On the other extreme, some may not put forth their best efforts or perform to the best of their abilities because they see themselves or their team as worse than others. No one benefits when you think either way.

Loss Does Not Mean Failure

Be honest. Do you often think of yourself as better or worse than others? Do you constantly compare yourself to your peers? If your answer is yes, realize that this mindset will regularly lead to situations like the account we looked at with the disciples.

Galatians 6:3-4 addresses those who think too highly of themselves: “For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.”

You have probably seen people who are driven to be better than everyone else at something. Such individuals take losing extremely hard. Many burn out over time because they cannot handle losses. They equate it with failure. But losing is not necessarily failure.

To illustrate, I ran track all four years in high school. Over the course of my final season, except for one race against an exchange student from Eastern Europe, I was undefeated in the 200-meter race. I was competitive and wanted to beat every opponent. I wanted to win every race.

But there was a problem early in the season. The coach asked me to run the 100-meter race, too. No problem, right? Well, I started losing races. No matter how hard I tried or how much I trained, physical limitations prevented me from taking first place most of the time. At first, I was disappointed, then frustrated.

What made it worse was that my coach did not seem to care. Why? Because he wanted the team to win more than he desired to see me win races. Sure, he would have been pleased to have both. But that was not going to be the case.

I, on the other hand, wanted a first-place finish more than I wanted to see the team win. I needed to learn a crucial lesson. It became obvious that winning every race was an unrealistic goal. I had to change my thinking, or my frustration would have surely overwhelmed me and affected my performance for the entire season.

So, rather than focusing on being “the best” at the 100 meters, I began focusing on running my personal best each race. That was the key! Over that track season, I repeatedly improved my time in the 100 meters, which helped me improve enough to go nearly undefeated in the 200 meters!

I would occasionally take first in the 100 meters or more often take second or third place, which earned valuable points for the team. I lost more times at the 100 meters than I won. But I began to learn this tremendous life lesson: Losing does not mean failure if you give it your all and do your best for the benefit of others.

Over the years, I have seen firsthand the opposite of Galatians 6:3-4 play out with many people, adults and teens alike. Here is a version of that same scripture, but from the opposite end of the spectrum: “For if anyone thinks himself to be nothing, when he is something, he also deceives himself.” Lacking confidence or not doing something with all your might because you think you will lose is equally problematic!

Often, people will only participate in activities at which they already know they are pretty good. They only put forth effort when convinced they will not be laughed at or considered a loser.

Do not misunderstand; losing can be difficult. And the thought of not measuring up to one’s own or others’ expectations can be paralyzing! No one wants to be laughed at, so finding excuses not to participate is easier than participating. But, again, when you work at being your best for the benefit of others, losing does not mean failure.

Here is the proper way to look at failure: Failure only occurs if you are worried about how you measure up against everyone else rather than working to measure up to the best you can be in God’s sight.

The Bible shows why this thinking is unproductive: “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” (II Cor. 10:12).

God does not measure you against everyone else. Therefore, losing against someone is not a failure from the perspective that counts most—His!

Of all the questions we ask ourselves, one of the most important is, “How does God see me?” He clearly knows what your best is in any given situation. He is willing to work with you so that you become your very best, but only when you are giving your full effort to get better, particularly when also helping others do the same.

Be Your Best!

The title of “the best” is reserved for one person at any given time. The title of “your best” is obtainable for every single person, all the time, regardless of his or her skill level. Remember God’s command in Ecclesiastes 9:10: “Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with your might.” He does not expect “whatsoever your hand finds to do, it must be done better than everyone else.”

Learning a new skill, such as playing guitar, takes time to be proficient—and even more to excel! At first, the strings you push down on will buzz if they make any sound at all. If you expect to be playing songs in front of your friends any time soon, think again.

Yet, with time, you will improve. The key here is to focus on doing the best at your current ability level. Take note of the improvements you make. These tiny victories will push you to continue improving.

Remember from earlier that, as a young person in the Church, the Holy Spirit can work with you even though it is not yet in you. If you give 100 percent in becoming your best instead of seeking to be the best, God’s Spirit will help. Ultimately, you are guaranteed to experience your best possible AYC experience and, over time, your best possible life!

The awards at the end of camp go well beyond popularity, intelligence, athletic skills or speaking ability. The same applies in life. Whatsoever you aspire to do, whether it is to become a mechanic, teacher, architect or engineer, you must strive to do the best you can for the benefit of others, not so you can prove you are the best.

Some of you reading this article may have personally received an award at the end of camp or have witnessed others receiving them. At the time, everyone likely had an opinion about who should have won such an award. So, it should not be surprising that youth within the Church can find themselves looking at themselves or others to determine who is the best.

I Corinthians 3:3-4 poses an important question: “For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?” (New King James Version). “Carnal” in this verse means physical or related to human nature. It means against God’s Way.

Whenever you see envy or conflict in yourself, remember this passage. In contrast, living according to God’s will brings peace, cooperation and an environment where everyone can be their best.

Who you are as a person, at AYC or in life in general, is revealed by what you do with your time, energy, focus and effort. When you are asked to participate in making up camp-related songs or preparing an act for the Fun Show, will you do your best to contribute? Or, even better, will you encourage others to join in, even if you think you have the best idea?

Will you do your part with all your might alongside fellow campers? There will be opportunities to serve each other throughout camp. What about during various sports like volleyball, basketball, soccer, hiking, swimming, kayaking, canoeing and rock climbing—or in different classes like writing, creative arts, dancing, cooking and other activities?

Every camper will have daily tasks to support their bunkhouse and the camp as a whole. These could include washing dishes, cleaning bathrooms, sweeping floors or other responsibilities. Such responsibilities are not as glamorous as sinking a perfect three-point shot during a basketball game—but they are very important!

Philippians 2:2-5 states: “Fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (NKJV).

In life, strive to value and appreciate others as better than you.

We will end with a challenge for all AYC campers this year. Give it your all. Strive to be your best in every activity while helping others to do the same. Let’s make this the year that the camp director and all the administrators and counselors will agree that everyone gave their best.