We are extremely fixated on working to be perfect in our homes, families, jobs, etc that it overwhelms us with stress and frustration. This is so unhealthy for us physically and spiritually. Yet I see it so often, even in my own past, from people of faith and atheists. I fought and struggled throughout my 20's with striving for perfection, but it wasn't until I truly understood that I was set free that this lie left me.
Perfection
Most of us understand the concept but have a hard time envisioning anything truly perfect. Everything in our earthly experience is flawed, imperfect.
And for those who know and love the Lord, the imperfections we are most deeply aware of often tend to be our own. I’m not speaking of the frailties of our bodies—though we feel those all too well. But the imperfections that trouble us most are not that superficial. The real problem is a sinfulness that comes straight from the heart (cf. Mark 7:21-23).
Of course, we have a tendency to be more tolerant of our own imperfections than of the failings of others. We try to cover for ourselves, but in our hearts we know all too well that we are woefully and sinfully imperfect. What Christian cannot echo the sentiment Paul expresses in Romans 7:24: “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”
We’re not alone in this. The entire universe suffers the effects of human sin. Paul also writes, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now” (Romans 8:22). That’s why all we can know on earth is imperfection. All creation agonizes under the cruel effect of sin’s curse, waiting for the consummation of all things, when the curse will be finally removed.
At that time, everything will be perfect. Pain, sorrow, and the groaning of creation will finally be no more. “The ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (Isaiah 35:10).
Not only that, but we shall be gloriously perfected. The whole person—body and soul—will be made completely new, flawless. As the apostle John wrote, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). Curated from Glory to Glory.
Every Christian is called to be perfect like Jesus was perfect. We should all be demonstrating the traits of a perfect Christian every day of our lives. We should be so biblically rooted that everyone around us wants to follow Jesus simply as a result of knowing us.
That’s a pretty heavy order, and to be honest, it’s simply not true. God never told us to walk in perfection and to be perfect. Yes, Jesus was perfect, and yes we are expected to emulate him, but we are humans and we will never be perfect like Jesus. God knows this very well and he doesn’t expect us to attain the unattainable. That’s why he gives us this wonderful thing called grace.
“God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Salvation and our relationship with God is a gift that he bestowed upon us out of his loving kindness. Yet so often, once we receive this wonderful free gift, we go back to trying to earn it with our actions. We are so used to a world where we have to work so hard to get anything, that we forget that God gave us this gift freely, with no expectation (and no possibility) of us earning it with any of our own works.
To clarify, I am not saying that there are not certain things we should aspire to do in order to help us grow spiritually in our lives. I believe it is very important to have a habit of doing things like praying regularly, reading our Bibles, attending a local church, serving people, giving and tithing, and worshipping God. All these acts are an important part of every Christian’s walk, but our goal in doing them shouldn’t be to be the perfect Christian, but to grow closer to God and strengthen our relationship with him. He doesn’t want us to be perfect, he just wants our hearts and our focus! Let’s face it, we can do all the perfect things for God and still not have a heart for him, and that is definitely not what he wants. Jesus called the Pharisees out on this exact thing when he said “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me” (Matthew 15:8). Actions without heart are worth nothing. Curated from How to be the Perfect Christian?
