EXCELLENCE—NOT PERFECTION

I absolutely love when God speaks to us through those things that surround us. As I have said in my book, JOURNEY WITH GOD, He uses people, animals, nature, everyday activities and experiences, and His Word to reveal precious truths to us. We must be aware of those teachable moments that He longs to impart. Later, I will share how God conveyed a valuable truth about perfectionism and excellence.

I struggled many years with perfectionism. I had thought it was a virtue, yet it became an exhausting, nagging frustration. Then a friend, who had also struggled with perfectionism, shared a truth that God had given to her: I require excellence and not perfection.

So, what is excellence? Excellence means to be outstanding in what you do. In other words, you give your very best. What is outstanding? It is defined as exceptionally good. What it does not say is that excellence requires perfection, which means to be free from flaws or defects.

It is humanly impossible to be flawless, no matter how hard we may try. However, God says, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ” (Colossians 3:23-24 ESV). We are to always give our best as representatives of Christ in all that we do, especially in our vocation, academics, the arts, hobbies, communication, health, friendships, faith, and family.

Absolute perfection is a quality that is God’s alone (Matthew 5:48). God is perfect in all knowledge (Job 37:16) “His Word is flawless; He shields all who take refuge in Him” (Psalm 18:30). “He is the Rock, His works are perfect, and all His ways are just. God is faithful and can do no wrong; He is upright and just” (Deuteronomy 32:4). “His way is perfect: God’s laws are also perfect” (Psalm 19:7; James 1:25).

We can never be perfect, but we can give God our very best. To do that, we must be indwelled with His Spirit so that we are able to live through the power of His Spirit and not our flesh and will (Ephesians 1:13). For the will and flesh make unrealistic demands.

Now I defer to the story of my Christmas tree. Unfortunately, the program that I use to post blogs, will not allow me to paste two personal pictures that visually tell this story without words. For those who had provided their email address, I was able to send a posting with pictures via email.

The tree had been stored in a hot garage over the Florida summer months, so when I removed the tree from its container, the white tree had yellowed in many areas and the tree limbs had dried and many were shedding. I was about to throw it in the trash, when I felt God nudge me to keep it.

God, in His infinite wisdom, was about to show me a very sweet lesson regarding the unattainability of perfectionism. And in His infinite wisdom, He showed me how to make something beautiful from what had become very imperfect.

I pulled out the gold/white garland and started wrapping the pre-lit tree and to my delight it began to take on a lovely fullness that had been lost. I then carefully and strategically added gold ornaments to further the appearance of fullness. When I finished, I stood back and marveled and thanked God for showing me through this Christmas tree, that there is beauty in what is not perfect.

There is beauty in each one of us. We do not need to strive for perfection because perfection is unattainable. Rather, we are to do all things with excellence as unto the Lord.

PRAYER: FATHER, thank you for revealing the difference between excellence and perfection. There is great liberty in knowing that perfectionism is a false world view that demands what is not attainable. Only You are perfect in all Your ways. Help me to do all things with a higher standard of quality as unto You. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Photo courtesy of bob-canning-r53rNKb…lash.jpg