Perfection. It tends to be the one thing we strive for, but we never actually attain it. I must admit, I have spent most of my life trying to do everything perfectly. At home, I attempted to please my parents. At school, I attempted to please my teachers. At church, it was my pastor. At work, it was my boss. Guess what? I have failed miserably throughout my entire life. Even when I did certain things right, I never felt like it was good enough. I always compared myself to how good this person did in school, how good that person was at sports, how much better someone else was at (fill in the blank with any number of random achievable acts). My life has been plagued by this unhealthy cycle of over-analyzing and worrying about doing everything right that I lost my focus for what I really should be striving for. As I quickly approach the middle portion of my life I’m beginning to realize, life isn’t necessarily defined by our past mistakes. Our lives are defined with how we choose to react AFTER the mistake. It’s a given. We’re all going to screw up from time to time no matter how perfect we try to live our lives.
Consider this. If we all were perfect, why would we need a personal relationship with God? As humans, we are born with a sinful nature. I have never been forced to teach my children to disobey me. They have chosen to do so without any input from good ole’ Dad. Sadly, their proclivity for disobedience came a bit too naturally. The apostle Paul poses a question to the Galatian people that I think we should all answer for ourselves. In chapter 1, verse 10, he states, “ Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.” Does God expect perfection from us? Absolutely not. There has only been 1 man who walked the face of this earth who was sinless and blameless. While here, Jesus did everything right and he still couldn’t please everyone. While I think it is important to do everything with excellence for the glory of God, there comes a time when we must decide what our priorities will be. We will never be perfect but that doesn’t prevent us from giving God our very best. After all, isn’t that what He did for us? Gave us His very best (Jesus)?
Closing remarks and encouragement: We constantly carry this burden around to please everyone we meet. We’re like a dog chasing its tail and never catching it. Hear me loud and clear—WE WILL NEVER ACHIEVE PERFECTION. But we can choose to serve God to the best of our abilities and let the chips fall as they will. The things of this world bring no long term value. But eternity with God is forever. Which is more important? Just do your best and allow God to handle the rest.