Can perfectionism eclipse awareness of God’s mindset?
Matthew 23:23-25
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel! Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self indulgence.”
Perhaps you are like me: I can berate myself for numerous failings, such as not knowing the latest national news, blurting out the wrong name when I greet somebody, not timely changing our car’s oil, skipping exercise, or shirking other personal goals. So easily my self-defined (and culture defined) expectations eclipse my awareness of God’s ethos. Or, I mistakenly picture my standards as God’s. My perfectionism can gnaw at me more than an awareness of how God wants me to think and act; and how He sees me as His beloved ‘adolescent’ child, who still needs to mature and to become attuned to His mindset.
Do I see a cashier as simply a ‘droid’ or as a person having a challenging life? Do I mentally censure a person just by his/her shabby appearance or poor grammar or excessive weight? Do I overly value a person’s education? Do I rationalize my coveting of what is not mine? Do I gossip or downplay someone behind their back under a guise of supposedly being concerned for them? Am I deeply wanting to think, act, and embrace values like Jesus? This is not a call to beat myself harshly for God-defined failures. Rather, it is a call to accept an objective view (God’s view) of myself, disregard my self-defined failures, confess true God-defined failures, bask in His grace, and concentrate on positively living for our Lord—albeit imperfectly.
After Apostle Paul writes to the Christians in Rome about the forgiveness from Jesus death /resurrection, he then writes in chapter 12: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.” —Dean Schulz