Perfectionism

According to Wikipedia, perfectionism, in psychology, is a personality disposition characterized by an individual striving for flawlessness and setting excessively high performance. It’s also mentioned somewhere that it’s the enemy of creativity, productivity, and, well, sanity. Procrastination is a symptom of perfectionism. Perfectionists fear they won’t be able to complete the task perfectly, so they try to put it off as long as possible.

Well, though I don’t want to be a perfectionist, I will aim to perfect myself. In my previous post, I have jotted down the three things which will make me a “perfect” being this year. I will try to set standards for me that are achievable. I don’t want to be that kind of a perfectionist who has a hard time starting things and an even harder time finishing them because researchers say that the need for perfection comes in different flavors, each associated with its own set of problems.

I don’t want perfectionism that may be the ultimate self-defeating behavior for me. As happens sometimes, perfectionism turns people into slaves of success—but keeps them focused on failure, so I don’t want to fall into that category.

Perfectionism, in psychology, is a belief that perfection should be strived for. Perfectionism, however, is not a healthy pursuit of excellence.

So that it will not make me a slave, I want to believe in the perfectionism that the Bible has in store. It’s written in 2 Samuel 22:31 – “This God—His way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; He is a shield for all those who take refuge in Him”.

1 Peter 2:1-25 – “So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to Him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ”.

Philippians 3:12-14 – “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus”.

Theropps.com writes that “even though the Bible states that man cannot be perfect, at the same time there are verses such as Matthew 5:48 which command, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly father is perfect." Is this a contradiction? Is God on one hand telling us that we cannot be perfect but on the other hand commanding that we must be so? Not exactly. The Greek for the word “perfect” in this verse is telios, a word which does not imply sinless perfection, but instead implies full development and growth into maturity of godliness. The emphasis of the verse falls more upon the “committed and close relationship with God”. This verse is also in a context of love. The challenge is to love as the Father loves, not loving only those who love us, but loving even our enemies and those who persecute us.

Deuteronomy 5:32, 3 instruct the reader to “be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you…” Here the instruction is for the Christian to be focused in obeying the Lord. Matthew 5:6 says that those who “hunger and thirst for righteousness” are blessed and they will be filled. Likewise, in Paul’s letter to the Philippians, Paul states that he has not yet achieved perfection but that he presses on toward the goal of becoming more like Christ. More than moral perfection, a right relationship with God is emphasized.

The website writes: Various models for becoming “perfect” in the Biblical sense are given throughout the Old and New Testaments. Such Biblical characters as Noah, Jacob, David, Asa, Job, Zacharias and Elizabeth, and Nathanael are ascribed as having moral completeness. Three of the models for becoming perfect include obeying the Lord’s commandments, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and pressing on or straining toward that to which the Lord has called us. These models all have one thing in common: we must desire and seek after a right relationship with the Lord and seek to be Christ-like. When we truly desire these things, then God will grant us our desire.

Amen!!!