Perfection or Holiness

Driving home from dinner after a day of unpacking…

Marcia:Wouldn’t it be amazing if we got home and God had miraculously unpacked everything and put it away for us

Brian: He could if He wanted to, but even if He did, He wouldn’t put it in the right place. You’d still have to move it.

Marcia: silence.

Marcia: OK, you’re right. But only because God is perfect, and I have to live in my imperfection.

Brian and Marcia: laughter.

It’s true and I know it – there are some things that just have to be my way. I have to reload the dishwasher after it’s been loaded. I have to rearrange the serving bowls in the cabinet (smaller snuggled into larger). The drinking glasses have to be aligned. And we won’t even touch the underwear drawer!

And Brian has learned to live with it… Most of the time.

The reality is, in some arenas, I am a perfectionist. Not perfect in anyone else’s eyes, but dedicated to what I have deemed perfection.

However, God does not call us to perfection; He calls us to holiness. He does not say be perfect as I am perfect; He says we must be holy as He is holy.

“As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy; because I am holy.'” 1 Peter 1:14-16 NIV

Being holy means that we are set apart from the world to God. Choosing to be holy means that in every realm of our lives we choose to live as God would have us live.

We must recognize that there are two paths: the path of the majority that leads to worldliness and the path of the minority that leads to Godliness. It is not easy to choose to be in the minority.

But God calls us to be in the minority in every arena of our lives – our sexuality, our parenting, our marriages, our work ethic, our employment, our service, our ministry, our homemaking, our entertainment and every other area. When we choose holiness, we choose to be like God; we choose to swim upstream against the current of popular culture

“‘I have the right to do anything,’ you say -but not everything is beneficial. ‘I have the right to do anything’ – but not everything is constructive. No one should seek their own good, but the good of others. So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” – 1 Corinthians 10:23-24, 31 NIV

All in all my perfectionism is a far cry from holiness! Rather than bringing the sweet fragrance of Jesus into a room, I can suck the fresh air out and replace it with the stinky smell of polluted self-focused perfectionism in a heart beat. Can you? Do you?

Where is God calling you away from perfectionism and toward holiness? Will you follow Him there?

As for me, yes, I will try to be more holy and less perfectionist as I unpack, but this is going to take some time… So I will be taking time off from writing this blog to unpack, settle in, and celebrate Thanksgiving with my family.

I will see you again on December 5. Happy Thanksgiving!