I am Melanie, and I am letting go of perfection.
This is a scary thing for two reasons. 1) I am a seeker of perfection and have often driven myself crazy as I strive. 2) Doesn’t Jesus call us to be perfect just as He is perfect?
Yes, he does, but he doesn’t call us to work and achieve and beat ourselves up when we fail. He calls us to himself, He draws us near, and the closer we become to His heart, the more in unison our hearts will beat with His. The goal is not the trying, the striving. The goal is to be Holy as I AM is Holy. We can only reach such perfection when we release our efforts and accept the life changing, new-covenant-making, total atonement of the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary.
He became our once-for-all sacrificial lamb.
This doesn’t mean we give up, stop seeking, or accept our sinful state as part of the deal. Absolutely NOT. By receiving that redemptive blood of Christ over your sinful heart, you have been given new life. We begin to stumble along beside our Master and experience discipleship for all it’s worth. We are created to learn from Him, to long to be like Him.
It all starts with believing in the Lord Jesus and accepting His all-surpassing grace and love into our lives. Then we offer all we have back to him–our love. Jesus will know the truth of our love by our obedience, and our obedience is simply the outpouring of our heart’s desire to love Him with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength.
There is no striving, no achieving involved. Only grace. Only love. Only pursuit of the One who has given us life. We can’t know our Lord intimately and not experience His holiness as a part of our life. He commanded us to be perfect, knowing it would be the natural result of a life truly and wholly in love with Him.
Freedom.
Amen, Jennifer.
ah, i am a recovering perfectionist…but these truths are so important. i've had to learn these lessons the hard way…but i'm so glad the LORD disciplines those He loves!
Love the post. To stop perfectionism, is very difficult. Love the light you have shed, I know I continue to struggle with this..