I’m wound tight. My personality likes to look like I’ve got it all together…that I’m “perfect”. When I fail, I’m really hard on myself and I certainly want to hid my short comings. Our social media world only worsens that kind of personality. Every picture posted on any of my social media sites screams, “Wouldn’t you want to be like me?” And Scripture doesn’t help either.
Jesus says on the Sermon on the Mount, “Be perfect just like my Heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). Wow! How do I live up to that? I end up putting unrealistic goals on myself. I perceive unrealistic goals from those around me. I perceive what God wants me to do in my life and I fall short.
Trying to look flawless though is just a cover. You see, there is a spiritual side to this seemingly psychologically-bound personality. The real issue is, I’m simply trying to cover my deepest insecurities, my deepest fears and my own sinfulness.
The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 3:20 that no one can ever be “made right” with God by trying to be perfect. So how do we move forward in our life? Paul continues in verse 22 by saying, “We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ.”
When I trust in Jesus to be my Savior, my perfection, I can let go of me trying to be perfect. Because of Jesus we can walk in freedom, embrace his grace, and live unburdened. With Jesus, the pressure to perform has been removed. So, because of Jesus…
We get to choose people over our perfection. It’s all about relationship rather than “getting it right”. Equally because of Jesus, we get to choose love over a perfect performance. Remember that trying to look perfect is simply a cover for our deepest fears.
But didn’t we start out be saying Jesus called us to be perfect in Matthew 5? In the context of that verse, Jesus is talking about love. Jesus is calling us to love everyone completely and maturely. We don’t just love people we think deserve our love. We are all-inclusive of our love, just like our Heavenly Father. We love on those who love us but also those who speak poorly about us, mistreat us, are mean to us and disrespect us.
You and I will never be perfect. My assignment as a disciple of Jesus is not to convince people how good I am. My assignment is to tell the world how awesome our God is!! It is all about Jesus!! So let go of faking how perfect you are and let your life scream how perfect our Heavenly Father has been to you. Blessings on the journey.