Perfectionism

I was reading of a man who was such a perfectionist he kept a newspaper underneath his cuckoo clock.

Are you are perfectionist? Do you expect everything to be "perfect?"

Let me ask you several questions to see if this is you.

Do you ever feel guilty when you relax, knowing you've got a lot to do?
Do you often feel dissatisfied or discontent with yourself or your situation?
Do you have a tendency to see something wrong with things rather than what's right?

Do you ever find yourself using these phrases regularly, "I have to...I must...I ought to...I should be able to...."

Do you ever feel frustrated or maybe even angry at God, feeling that His expectations on you are unreasonable?

Does your relationship to God seem like a burden rather than a blessing?

Perfectionism can wash over into our live in the church if we are not careful. Nothing can kill a church faster than perfectionism.

Perfectionism can cause us to lose our joy.

God wants us to be holy.
God desires that we be righteous.

But you can take any virtue and make a vise out of it by taking it to an extreme.

Perfectionism can cause us to lose close relationships.

Nobody likes to be around someone who is always correcting them or nagging at them to "get something right."

Nobody likes to be "straightened out all the time."

Perfectionists tend to be that way because they are hard on themselves and don't like themselves. If they can't feel good about themselves, than they certainly don't want you to feel good about yourself.

People in our churches can expect ministry leaders to be perfect. And when they aren’t – they get angry.

Ministry leaders of church can expect people to be perfect. And when they don’t – they get frustrated and angry.

Perfectionism causes us to lose our motivation to do kingdom work. We can get into this, "If I can't do it perfectly, than I am not going to do it at all."

Nobody is perfect. Sometimes we are harder on others and ourselves than God is.

One thought is this: Let's lower the expectation levels we have of each other and of the body of Christ. The Bible says, "Nothing is perfect except God's Word." (Psalms 119:96)

God says, "It's okay not to be perfect."

That doesn't mean that I'm not to strive for holiness and growth in my walk with God. It's not a license to continue in our sin or being a jerk the rest of our lives.

But it means that we all walk by grace. Everyone is doing the best they can.