Pursing God Instead of Perfection
As a recovering perfectionist, I asked myself, why do I get so caught up in being perfect? While I recognize perfection is impossible, there is still something deep inside me that fuels my desire to achieve it. I began to wonder where this notion came from. Surely it is a godly pursuit, isn’t it? I recalled one of Jesus commands from the Sermon on the Mount, “Be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48 NIV) and reassured myself that while perfection was a tall order, I was still on the right track. However, further study of this verse brought new understanding.
First, I looked up the dictionary definition of perfect. Webster’s defined it as “free from any flaw, fault or defect in condition or quality and complete.” Second, I looked up the Greek definition of the word perfect,teleios,[i] which means the condition something is in, or describes the completion or end of, and maturity. Third, I looked up the cross reference for this verse and discovered Leviticus 19:2, which commands Israel to “be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy” (NIV) using the word holy instead of perfect. Suddenly, I realized that this idea of perfect is talking about holiness and maturity, not about being flawless or acceptable.
This changes everything.
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 my walk with God, not about whether I did everything perfectly. You see, God doesn’t call us to pursue perfection, He calls us to pursue Him.
While pursuing perfection is one thing, striving for it is another. 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. Webster’s defines this ideology as “a refusal to accept any standard short of perfection. A doctrine holding that religious, moral, social, or political perfection is attainable.” If we adhere to this doctrine, pursuing perfection becomes the object of our worship, not God.
Life isn’t perfect, and it never will be. It’s messy. It’s chaotic. It’s unpredictable. Living focused on a futuristic unattainable goal is not a recipe for success. Instead, it highlights our weaknesses, intensifies our failures, and leaves us unfulfilled. But Jesus said, “‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness.’ Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me” (2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV). Did you catch that? Christ’s power works best in our imperfections.
Friend, 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 transforming your pursuit of perfection into a pursuit of Him.
[i] “teleios”, Blue Letter Bible (online), cited 15 May 2019, Available on the Internet: blueletterbible.com.