The Dangerous Snare of Perfectionism
At a young age, my talented son showed signs of perfectionistic thinking. He once brought home a paper from kindergarten covered in scribbles. At the top, his teacher had drawn a sad face in red ink. Beneath the scribbles, I could see he’d answered every question correctly—except the last one, which he’d left blank. Because he didn’t know one answer, he discounted all the ones he got right.
I’ve let perfectionism sabotage me too. I wanted to polish my insights before sharing them. The problem is: when are they good enough? In college, I skipped activities I could have enjoyed because I feared I might not be good enough. I wrestled with decisions, afraid I’d make a mistake.
Perfectionism robs the world of our gifts and robs us of the joy of living and learning. Even worse is when we carry this diseased mindset into our faith.
We transfer onto God the unrealistic expectations we place on ourselves, believing He’s harshly grading our performance. We create standards to measure our spiritual progress—but even when we reach them, we still see only our faults. We miss out on the joy of knowing God, and our self-absorption robs Him of the joy of our fellowship.
Good News for BelieversThe apostle Paul shattered the idea of a perfectionist’s faith. He saw the Gospel as “the power of God to bring salvation to both Greeks and barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish” (Romans 1:14 NASB). In other words, neither our performance nor our pedigree, our knowledge nor our ignorance, can hinder God’s power to make us right with Him. True righteousness comes by faith.
“For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile.
This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, ‘It is through faith that a righteous person has life’”
(Romans 1:16–17 NLT).
In The Book of Mysteries, Jonathan Cahn illustrates this truth by asking:
In a race, which runner will win?
The one who is strong and only runs perfect races—or the one who stumbles often but keeps getting back up?
His answer: the clumsy runner.
“The first runner runs only perfect races. Once he falls, it’s no longer a perfect race. His race is over… So the winner is not the best runner, but the one who crosses the finish line.”
How many of us, like my kindergartener, quit our race at the first stumble?
So, dear friend, are we in the race to win—or to prove ourselves?
Are we running to impress others, to avoid embarrassment, or to earn some group’s or person’s approval?
Or are we running by faith, embracing God’s grace, and rebounding after each stumble?
Paul gave up his legalistic righteousness to receive right standing with God that comes only by faith in Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:2–11). This new righteousness not only freed him—but changed the world.
The pursuit of excellence inspires growth and learning.
But the demand for perfection leads to burnout and robs us of joy.
“I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith”
(Philippians 3:9 NLT).
Let’s choose faith—not perfectionism—to guide our race. Only faith leads to God’s “Well done!”
What has perfectionism kept you from doing—or enjoying—in your life or faith?
Share your thoughts in the comments. Let’s encourage one another to run free in grace.
Perfectionism steals joy and stunts faith. True freedom comes not from flawless performance—but from running by faith in God’s grace. #GraceOverPerfection #ChristianLiving #FaithNotFear
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Blessings,
#MondayLinkUp #InstaEncouragements, #TellHisStory, #Let’sHaveCoffee, #Grace&Truth
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