A Perfectionist is a person who refuses to accept any standard short of perfection. They are someone who simply demands perfection of themselves.
If you attended school and became furious with yourself when you didn't get a 100% on a test, you might be a perfectionist. If you socialize and you won't say anything until you've checked what you're going to say for errors, you might be a perfectionist. If you create things for others and you won't present these things to anyone until you are absolutely sure that your creations have no problems, you might be a perfectionist. Being a perfectionist is not just an identity but a lifestyle.
When it comes to being a perfectionist a Christian...should DISMISS this notion outright. (Truthfully it makes me want to laugh.)
I used to be a perfectionist, and I would beat myself up over the grades I got in school; tormenting myself for not getting at least a 90% on an exam or project. I messed myself up, and worse is I convinced myself that the frustration I had was Christian. I'd tell myself, "Since God is perfect, shouldn't I also strive to perfect like He is?" Now, it is true that we as believers are "to say 'No' to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age" (Titus 2:12). We are supposed to strive to live godly and righteous lives, but we're not supposed to make the extra leap of foolishness there to then tell ourselves that we have to be perfect people. That extrapolation is anti-Biblical.
The Bible says we fool ourselves to think that we can be perfect. John writes that "if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8). We can't be sinless perfect people, let alone even truly good people. Jesus Himself says, "No one is good-except God alone" (Mark 10:18). Even the prophet Isaiah remarks that "all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away" (Isaiah 64:6). We as Christians cannot get an A+ or even a "Good Job!" sticker on any of our spiritual tests, and that can frustrate us. We might even cry out to God to take away our imperfections, but He'll likely tell us "No" the same way He told Paul. Paul asked God three times to take away his imperfections and God told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness" to which Paul then humbly responded, "I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me" (2 Corinthians 12:9). Eventhough we are not perfect, the good news is God's grace is sufficient for us, and He will use our imperfections for His glory.
Where can we see God's sufficient grace in action admist our imperfections? It's in our daily prayer time. Picture this: you're in a small group or it's your turn to pray for the meal. If you're like me, I wager you might start to worry about whether you'll say the right words or not when it's your turn to pray. I think us Christians tend to suffer from this stigma that we have to get our words in prayer time just right, or else God won't listen to us, or our company might doubt our Christianhood. We need to not worry about what we say during prayer, because we have someone in our corner making even our most botched up prayers into something truly beautiful. Scriptures says, "The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God" (Romans 8:26-27). We don't have to worry about getting all our words perfect, because, God intercedes on our behalf when we are talking to Him. He even interceds for us when we are talking with others. For the servants of the LORD, God says, "I have put My words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of My hand" (Isaiah 51:16). We don't have to worry about being perfect. God is perfect for us and that should make us thankful. When we see our weakness rightly, it should make us want to get up and praise God saying, as Paul said, "I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Corinthians 12:10).
So I am thankful that I'm incapable
Of doin' any good on my own
I say that I'm so thankful that I'm incapable
Of doin' any good on my own
- Caedmon's Call
Sources
- The Bible (New International Version)
- Dictionary.com: Perfectionist
- Caedmon's Call: Thankful
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