The thing about perfectionism is that it's one of the great lies. There's no such thing as perfect- except for Jesus Christ, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21) As for humans, perfection does not exist. But we sure as shootin' strive for it, don't we? As a culture (think of all the plastic surgeries you could have to create a 'perfect' face or body. Problem is at some point you only end up looking plastic rather than perfect), as families (we worry how our kids are perceived by others and put undue pressure on them to perform), as a church (if we aren't sure we can actually "do it" then we will not take the risk; failure is not an option).
However. . .
Jesus never called us to be perfect. Did you hear that? Think about it for a moment before you go on reading----- Jesus NEVER called us to be perfect. He never said we had to be number one, first in line, the best or the brightest.
He only called us to show up.
Show up and try.
Show up and do your best.
Show up and take a risk.
But show up no matter what you do.
The promise is that he will do the rest. The perfect One will take over when we get to the point where we have done all we can do to the best of our imperfect human ability. That takes trust. Perfectionism is a lack of trust in the One who swoops in and gets the job done. Perfectionism is nothing less than putting all our trust in ourselves rather in the One who "bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live in righteousness." (1 Peter 2: 24)
So here's a piece of advice that I've said to myself in the mirror on many occasions, "Get over yourself!" Just show up and assent to letting Christ use your best to get the job done according to his will, not yours.
Besides, perfectionism is such pressure! It's such a burden to carry, and it drives everyone else nuts!
Have a blessed day!
amy
No comments:
Post a Comment