Sunday, October 06, 2013
Amazing Grace for the Perfectionist
"I dwelled on my failures and brooded over my momentary
successes. In short, I was spending way too much time thinking
about me and what I needed to do, and far too little time thinking about Jesus and what He had already done for me. What I
discovered was that the more I focused on my need to get better,
the worse I actually got—the more neurotic and self-conscious
and self-absorbed I became. And so God took me up on my
unwitting invitation to the congregation and gave me the gift I
never meant to ask for: He gave me the gift of suffering. God did
not rescue me out of the pain; He rescued me through the pain!" Excerpt from Glorius Ruin by Tullian Tchividjian
I'm admittedly a person who tends to be too hard on myself, especially when I fail or fall short on something. Whenever I'm given any criticism, whether constructive or destructive, I seem to react in the same way--which is by berating myself for not measuring up. Then I fall into a vain pursuit of perfection and human acceptance that quite frankly, doesn't do me any good. In the end, I just feel like I've chased after the wind.
Pastor Tullian's book is really helping me to see how He is present in every kind of suffering--yes, even the kind that is brought about by our failures. The excerpt I mentioned above is making me realize that my reaction to criticism is a failure on my part to understand that everything that I do is all about Jesus. It's not about me, my excellence at work, the pat on the back I can get from my bosses, or even the sense of satisfaction that comes with doing something great. It's about serving Jesus, doing the best I can, and then going back to Jesus all over again.
Failure is not the end of the world, and yes, I'm talking to you, my fellow perfectionist. Failure teaches is that only our Savior, Jesus Christ, is perfect, and that as His perfect grace works in and through us, excellence will follow in all that we do. And even when we make mistakes, that doesn't make us any less of a person. That just gives us an opportunity to tap on God's unfailing grace even more.
Labels: faith, work
posted by mari_elle at
00:08
