“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”—Matthew 5:48

Vince Lombardi. Winning. Excellence. Missing the mark.

Something is out of line there. The first three words/phrases fit well together. The last? Not so much. But Lombardi will tell you it does.

Lombardi’s first message to his sub-par Green Bay Packers after taking over raised the bar.

“Gentlemen, we are going to relentlessly chase perfection,” he said, “knowing full well we will not catch it, because nothing is perfect. But when we miss the mark, we’ll achieve excellence.”

After many losing years, Lombardi’s ways led to Green Bay earning the nickname, “Titletown.”

Neither you nor I can achieve perfection. That can’t be argued. But if we let the Holy Spirit do the work of grace and transformation in our lives, we can achieve the same type of excellence. That’s our way of reaching and climbing the benchmark of excellence.

—Jeff Pinkleton

OneCoach, part of the Sports Spectrum Network, is an international community of coaches and spouses who have been uniquely gifted and called by God. Visit OneCoach.org for more stories and videos.

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