The Articles Library, Section 3
What does “Christian” mean on Monday morning?
PERFORM WITH EXCELLENCE AND INTEGRITY

Reclaiming Excellence as a Christian Virtue
Michael Zigarelli
See the video based on this article
From a Christian perspective, excellence is a virtue. We’re to pursue excellence–our very best–in all things because God has given us the privilege, even the assignment, to do those things. But this is rusty theology for many of us, since it’s de-emphasized in the modern day, eclipsed by more celebrated virtues like love and joy and forgiveness and service. How many sermons have you heard on it in the past few years? How many articles have you read about it? Here’s a brief one on this teaching that touches every aspect of our day, a teaching that we should reclaim as essential to a life well-lived.

How to Achieve Business Excellence
Buck Jacobs
In this article, Buck Jacobs, founder of The C12 Group, offers practical advice about what God’s calling to excellence means for business, offering nine specific commitments.

The Fire and the Calf
Phillips Brooks
Is the abdication of responsibility merely a modern phenomenon? How about the tendency to excuse our transgressions because we’re “victims” of society? Not even close. Reverend Phillips Brooks lamented these habits as far back as 1883–and he did it by citing Biblical evidence from three millennia earlier than that!
This sermon is a timeless classic about a pervasive deception: The inclination to blame others for what is, in fact, our own willful wrongdoing.

Dishonesty and Deception in Business
Alec Hill
In this article, the author, a former dean of a Christian business school, presents a careful exposition of the nature and consequences of dishonesty and deception in business, offering useful examples and case scenarios. He also addresses the tough question of whether deception is ever justified.

Gutting Gossip: How to Kill the Poison Grapevine
Michael Zigarelli
See the video version of this article
Workplace gossip is everywhere. So what’s a Christian to do? This article explains what gossip is, why it’s so pervasive, and most importantly, what a person can do to diplomatically extinguish it.