Here’s An Example of Excellence

by Curtis Shelburne

IN A DAY when success often breeds contempt even for the God who is the Author of all talents and abilities, “wash your ears out,” as Paul Harvey says, “with this”—

Christopher Parkening may never make it “big” on the Nashville scene, but the 47-year-old classical guitarist is a genuine superstar in the classical music world having “recorded 15 albums, played more than a thousand concerts, entertained millions, and performed on two televised Grammy Awards shows.”

I learned these things recently as I read a Christianity Today “Arts” article by Steve Rabey. I liked Parkening’s work before I read the article. I like it even better now.

It’s not simply that Christopher Parkening is the best in the world at what he does. It is that Parkening is the best at what he does precisely because he doesn’t do it for himself. He does it to the glory of God.

“Excellence” is a word much bantered about these days, but true excellence, I believe, is a bit like happiness. The most unhappy people in the world are the ones who spend lots of time asking, “Am I happy yet?” Happiness was never meant to be a goal; it is a wonderful by-product of living life for something more worthwhile than our own happiness.

And excellence? It never happens by accident, but it is all the more excellent when the goal is not excellence for its own sake but excellence for the sake of the One who gifted you with the ability to work, to sing, to figure, to play, to craft, to account, to repair, to cook, to build, . . . to live, for His sake.

Christopher Parkening started playing the guitar when he was 11. At age 19, he made his recording debut to rave reviews. By age 30, he was performing almost 100 concerts a year. And he was burned out. He quit. He lived on a ranch in Montana and fly fished for three years until he was invited to worship one Sunday at Grace Community Church in California where he heard John MacArthur preach a sermon entitled, “Examine Yourself Whether You Be in the Faith.” It was a life-changing moment. As Parkening offered his life to God, he read the Apostle Paul’s challenge that Christians do everything to the glory of God. Parkening returned to his music playing more beautifully than ever, dedicating his work, as did J. S. Bach, to the glory of God alone.

“When,” he says, “you can sincerely and with your whole heart play an instrument for the purpose of glorifying God, it gives you a joy and a peace that you don’t know when you’re doing it for yourself and for the money.” In this case, what is true of playing an instrument is also true of living a life.