This semester, one of the texts I am translating is Horace’s Art of Poetry (Ars Poetica). It is a poem written to two young aspiring play-writes in ancient Rome on how to compose good literature and plays.  Around halfway through the poem, Horace comments on how Roman critics were too indulgent toward the careless mistakes of poets. He writes, “Therefore [since they are so lenient] shall I wander around and write without restraint? Or thinking that everyone will see my errors, shall I seek safety and caution with the anticipation of pardon? In this case I have avoided fault, but I have not earned praise.” In essence, he says we should not write thinking that our readers will be gracious to us. That only achieves mediocrity. We must strive to be faultless and brilliant in our art so as to earn praise.

This sort of mentality seems to apply to every craft in life, even the art of living well, ars vita. We do not strive to simply get by, but rather want to live an excellent—that is, virtuous—life. Peter likewise commands us to adorn to our faith different excellencies in life, rather than getting by at the bare minimum (2 Pet 1:3–11). As Christians, we are not called to simply exist and live whatever life we want. We have a higher purpose and are endowed with everything we need for living a virtuous life (1:3). We may be tempted to slack off because it is socially acceptable. We can get by in life just by going to work and then coming home and chilling by the TV the rest of the day. While we committed no wrong by doing so, we have simply avoided fault. We have not earned praise. We have not lived up to our calling

The standard for how we should live our lives is not secular society. Like the Roman poetry critics Horace mentions, the world’s standards are too low. If you base your life off what the world says, you will fall far short of the excellent life God expects of his followers. Sadly, even the standard of many in the church is far more lenient and far less lofty than the standard God holds us too. We must look to God’s word for how to live well. God calls us above spiritual mediocrity and to a live a life that partakes of the divine nature (1:4). Will you choose to live up to this lofty and divine calling?