Perfection is attainable, but not for the perfect…

2 Corinthians 12:9
“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

 

Ok this is ridiculous.

I can’t do it.

I am trying to write a blog about striving for perfection, about having the highest standards, about always having to be perfect and you know what?

I can’t do it.

I am sitting here trying to write the most fabulous, witty, insightful, deep, thought provoking…………perfect blog.

What I am trying to talk about, I am a victim my very self.

Perfection is everywhere.

Walk into the supermarket and look a the magazine isle and you will see hundreds of pictures of how ‘perfect’ people look.

Go to a fancy restaurant and eat a dish prepared by a chef who thinks it is the perfect combination of ingredients and flavours. Can’t be any better.

What an athlete perform his or her skill because one inch to slow, one inch to far, it’s not perfect.

Watch an artist create a masterpiece. A beautiful blend of strokes and colours to what? Make perfection.

And then watch a student. Watch a student in primary school, high school or university, strive to revise, revise revise, and revise!!! To be perfect on the class test. 99% is good. 100% is perfect.

Go shopping at all the write stores to wear the perfect outfit.

Hang out with all the right people to have the perfect social life.

Go to the cool happening church to have a perfect relationship with God.

Be perfect.

Be perfect.

Be perfect.

Ever tried to be perfect?

I try to do it with every single act I do in my daily routine.

I have to wake up at the perfect time so as to give myself enough time to wear the perfect outfit to work, eat the perfect healthy breakfast to sustain me through the day and not put on weight so I can have the perfect body, brush my teeth so I can have the perfect smile, put gel in my hair so I have the perfect hairstyle and leave the apartment at the perfect time so I reach work at the perfect starting time.

All this before 8.45am.

Am I striving to hard for perfection?

All day through work I strive to complete tasks to perfection, not finishing them until I have completed them perfectly but even sometimes I am afraid to take tasks on in case I can achieve perfection in them.

After work I arrive home to try and cook the perfect dinner (to my very mediocre cooking standards), go to the gym to get the perfect body so I can look like the guy off the front of the Men’s Health magazine cover, come home and read my bible and pray so I can be the perfect Christian, talk to my friends and family so as to be the perfect friend and son and then finally sleep having set my alarm clock at the perfect time to wake up and start this perfect routine all over again.

Perfect.

Everyone is striving for perfection.

By trying to deny this statement you are saying that “no I am perfect, because I would never try and strive for perfection.”

Everybody does it.

Whether in school, at home, in church, with your friends or family, everyone is seeking perfection one way or another.

However what really is perfection?

If you look at the front cover of the magazines in the supermarket is that the perfect way to look?

Not a hair out of place, perfectly straight teeth, no spots, no blemishes, skinny body, ripped six pack.

They look perfect.

Or what about watching tv? You watch the latest talent show which only selects one winner who compared to the rest of the competitors is adjudged by the so called music experts to be….perfect.

What about exam time in school. You have to revise so hard to attain the perfect grades on your latest test so as to give yourself the best opportunity to go to the perfect university to study the perfect course for you so you can get the dream job when you qualify so you can live the perfect lifestyle the rest of your life.

You look at the celebrities chilling in Hollywood, fresh from shooting a multi million dollar movie while relaxing in the sunshine, pockets full of cash, a beautiful partner on their arm, living everyone’s dream lifestyle.

The dream life.

So whose measure of perfection really is this?

Is it yours?

Is it mine?

Is it the medias?

Is it your parents?

Is it Gods?

You see something I struggle to understand and put into practise is my daily routine…..isn’t perfect. No matter how hard I plan, manage my time, it just never is perfect.

Take tonight, I didn’t get to the gym because I had a meeting after work, not a perfect evening.

And what I am striving perfection in, really is my own perception of what perfect is. Maybe I believe that having a ripped six pack, massive biceps and a perfectly white shinny hair is perfection. Or that I can only write or publish a blog for the world to see and scrutinise if it is completely perfect, to my own standards.

But you see. My standards are not perfect.

Far from it.

And neither are yours.

Yes I know it is hard hearing it.

I don’t get it and battle with it everyday.

But really the only perfect standards in this world are the standards of Jesus Christ.

No individual who has walked this earth is perfect…..except from God’s only Son, Jesus Christ.

You see, the whole time I strive for perfection in my own high standards, when really I should be striving for perfection in God’s high standards.

So maybe instead of me trying to always control every little situation, wanting it to turn out perfectly how I think it should, is not aiming for perfection at all.

What I really should be doing is trusting in God to be in control of every little situation believing that whatever the outcome, it is perfect, because it is God’s very own individually tailored full of love plan for my life and how it should pan out.

OK.

You thought that was hard to hear.

Hard to grasp.

Listen to this.

God’s power is perfect.

There is nothing like it.

It is flawless.

Perfection.

And when we are at our weakest.

The lowest.

Even lower again.

The lowest of the lows.

Rock bottom.

That is when God’s power is perfection.

Because guys we do not need anything else.

God’s love, God’s grace for our lives is so perfect, we don’t need anything. We don’t need to aim for what we believe is perfection but what God believes is perfection and what he truly believes is perfection is loving him whole heartedly.

God is perfection.

God’s love is perfection.

And knowing this, understanding this, and acting on this, is perfection for God.

Because when we may not see it.

When we feel at our lowest.

Our most insignificant.

Our most imperfect.

In God’s eyes, we are perfection.

Because we are his.

And he is ours.

And together it is perfection.

Advertisement