By Prisca Sam-Duru

Excellence in life is not possible without doing good always. To achieve excellence, doing good consistently and persistently must be a lifestyle.

That was the summary of the message to the graduating students of Evangel College, Okokomaiko, Lagos, by the Principal, Mr. Egwu Moses, during the 2023 graduation ceremony of the school held recently in Lagos.

In Nigeria and Africa today where the title of “His Excellency”‘ is carelessly ascribed to leaders, the principal says “excellence in life involves hard work, doggedness, persistency, endurance, consistency and fear of God. It does not necessarily translate to having the best things of life. Living a life of excellence from the point of view of this discourse which is the biblical view points as well, accumulates to internal fulfillment, happiness and peace of mind.”

He also spoke about the preponderance of opportunities in everyday life for one to do good: “If we are careful enough, we will observe that opportunities to “do good’ always come knocking at our doors from the time we wake up in the morning to the time we go to bed every day. We can actually build a life of excellence for ourselves and others as we attend to those opportunities on daily basis.

“However, human nature, most times, beclouds us, preventing us from recognizing and acting positively on those opportunities. At the end of each day, most people hardly realize they had missed about 70% of great opportunities they had to do good to themselves and to others. I dare say that majority of the human race are in this category,” the principal said.

“What about you? On which side of the divide do you fall?” he asked the students and the guests at the occasion. “Failure in life are attributable to this. Marital, parental, academic, business, ministerial, and even health failures result from negligence of doing good when opportunities came knocking.

“We must not forget that neglecting to “do good”, especially when one is aware of the opportunity, is sin. Doing good so that you and others will enjoy life of excellence is an injunction from God (see Psalm 37:27; Hebrew 13:16; 3 John 1:11 and Galatians 6:10).

“In Acts 10:38, we are told of how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power; who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him.

“This shows that without God, our human nature that is bedeviled by laziness, forgetfulness, peer-group and societal influence, mental and spiritual retardation, can stop us from pursuing a lifestyle of excellence.

“So, we cannot achieve a life of excellence without God. Jesus said, “without me, ye can do nothing.” Get attached to Jesus today; Remain in Him, and a life of excellence cannot elude you.  He is the Way to excellent life, the Truth about excellent life and a personification of excellent Life.  You must embrace Him for excellence in life.