How to Pursue God Not Perfection
“…focusing our eyes on Jesus, who is the Author and Perfector of faith…” Hebrews 12:2
What is perfectionism?
According to Webster’s dictionary, perfectionism is “a refusal to accept any standard short of perfection. A doctrine holding that religious, moral, social or political perfection is attainable.”
When I read that definition, I recognize that perfection is impossible. However, there is still something deep inside me that fuels my desire to achieve it. As a recovering perfectionist, I asked myself, why do I get so caught up in being perfect?
First, it feels measurable.
All day long we are compiling information about how we are measuring up and then recording our successes or failures on our mental spreadsheet of perfection. This process gives the illusion that acquiring more checkmarks in the success column directly correlates to our value, our worth, our significance. In the kingdom of God, our value is not based on our good works but on God’s grace. (Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV).
Second, because perfect is the persona we think will lead to greater love, acceptance, and approval.
Presenting a mirage of having it all together may give us a moment in the spotlight, but it doesn’t sustain us. Perfectionism swallows us up into the rat race of carrying the weight of everyone’s happiness, including our own, on our shoulders. When we take the pursuit of perfection and place it on the throne of our heart rather than God, we stray off course and perfectionism becomes our ideology. We must not forget then that Christ power shines through our weaknesses and broken places, not the perfect ones (2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV).
Third, we want to author our own story.
When we are the author, it gives us a sense of control and we delude ourselves into thinking that things go better when we are in charge. However, Jesus is “the author and perfecter of faith” (Hebrews 12:2 NASB), not us. Life isn’t perfect, and it never will be. It’s messy, chaotic, and unpredictable. Living focused on a futuristic unattainable goal is not a recipe for success. Surrendering control to God and trusting in His sovereign plan seems contradictory, it is here where you can find peace, freedom, and rest. (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV).
I had perfection as the goal, and I was failing miserably. But perfection isn’t the goal, God is. The pursuit is about holiness and growing in maturity in your walk with God, not about whether you do everything perfectly. You see, God doesn’t call us to pursue perfection, He calls us to pursue Him.
Beloved, what are you pursuing? Ask God to shine His light to expose your desire for perfection so that you can see your imperfection as an opportunity for Christ to shine through you. It’s time to remove the veil of perfection and surrender our pursuit of it to the Lord. As we see through these new lenses, ask God to transform your pursuit of perfection into a pursuit of Him.