5. A commitment to pure motives

A commitment to excellence is a commitment to pure motives.

Being completely honest, one of the biggest battles I face during worship is focusing on God. For me, there are two main problems. The first is the mechanics of playing an instrument.

Playing any instrument at the highest level you can play requires concentration. If you're a lead guitarist, you have to think about what key you're in, what chords are being played, what scales are suitable, even the patches you want to use on your effects processor.

Of course, with continued practice, much of this will become second nature, but you can't lose focus on what you're doing. In all of this activity and concentration, the Lord has to be the reason for it all and we need to pray that we never lose sight of that.

The second distraction is the crowd. It's easy to play for the adulation of people, rather than the commendation of God. But Colossians 3:23 says, "And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men,"

It may be tempting to bask in the glory of the applause, but one of the things I try to keep reminding myself is that ultimately, we're playing for a crowd of One. If we sing, we sing for the Lord. If we play, we play for the Lord. If we serve in the technical team, we do it for the Lord.

Bottom line is: Do your ministry for a crowd of One.

Now read: A commitment to learning