Love to hear from and know who is listening
I pride myself at being good at a few things. I believe that I am pretty good at mowing my yard and keeping it weed free. I spend a lot of hours in my garden making sure that it is perfectly tilled and that I have the biggest and best possible produce. I may not be perfect at either, but I feel confident I am pretty darn good. Also, I tell my wife that I am the perfect husband and there are none better than me, so far I think she believes me! For the majority of my life I have wanted to excel at everything I do. Perfectionism can lead to finding your identity in accomplishments and when things don't work out as you have planned you may find yourself at the least feeling disappointed and at worst becoming depressed. No matter what I may tell my wife, I am not perfect and I never will be! In my walk with Jesus, I want to be a perfect Christian. In my mind, the ideal Christian is someone who lives a sacrificial life. This person is obviously a missionary, lives among the poor and has adopted at least seven children and they have hour-long quiet times every day. They never yell at their kids or spouse and their house is immaculate. They also disciple many younger adults or teens and have an ideal marriage. They are, in a sense, perfect!!! However, perfectionism can be devastating for a Christian.
Romans 3:23 ESV For all have sinned and fell short of the glory of God!
The perfect Christian does not exist! It is easy for us to look at someone who is living an “extreme life” for the Gospel, someone who is a missionary in some far off location or is leading a large congregation of people and be convinced they have it all together, but I promise you, even though they may look perfect on the exterior, they struggle with sin daily. There is one thing that I am perfect at, I am the perfect sinner. I can always count on myself to do that thing that I shouldn't do and fail to do the things that I should.
Romans 7:15 ESV For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
In Romans, Paul confesses that he does not understand why he continues to sin. He wants to do righteousness, but he does not do it. Rather, he finds that he commits sin, the very thing he hates!!! I have to admit that I really connect with Paul when it comes to failing to be the Christian I want to be. We live in a day, when sin is normalized. The world does its best to make sin seem acceptable. They sit comfortably in it and make it look so good. For example, the LGBTQ community says that all sorts of sinful relationships are perfectly fine, because they love one another. It is so easy as a Christian to look the other way so that you are not accused of being hateful or intolerant. It is the nature of man, even the nature of a believer, to over look sin, to be entangled in sin. It happens so easily.
Hebrews 12:1 NASB Therefore, since we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let’s rid ourselves of every obstacle and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with endurance the race that is set before us.
When we constantly strive for unattainable perfection, we are chasing after something that will never satisfy. We are chasing after a fleeting goal that will never compare to the love and peace found in our sweet Savior. God never meant for us to spend our days toiling to reach an eventual state of human perfection. Our idea of perfection is often rooted in selfish ambition and a desire for more. So friend, let us lay aside our desire for perfection and instead cling to God's perfect grace and love!
