“She’s the perfect mom.”
“I wish I could be the perfect wife like her.”
“No wonder she was asked to teach Sunday School. She’s the perfect church member.”
“You can tell she’s the perfect Christian.”
Anyone reading these quotes is most likely laughing to herself and thinking, “That DOES NOT describe me AT ALL!” I know I think that of myself, and guess what? We would both be right!
We all want to be “perfect” at that task, job, skill, talent, or thing in our lives that matters greatly to us. From the age of 5 until I went to college, I was horse crazy. I woke up thinking of horses and fell asleep each night while praying that God would give me a horse. I went riding every chance I got, even offering to clean the stables for free riding lessons. I read books about horses: their conformation, breeds, training, and even equine veterinary care. Did I mention I was horse crazy?
I wanted to be the perfect horsewoman. The lady who was my instructor during those riding lessons told me I was a natural. That statement lit a fire in me that made me want to be the perfect rider. Looking back, I was ridiculously obsessed. My mom told me many years later that if the obsession kept me from being one of those boy crazy girls, she would let it go on as long as necessary!
Try as I might, I never became the perfect rider. Life was busy. Riding lessons were expensive. My career as the world’s greatest horsewoman fell by the wayside. Although, if anyone asked me to ride their horse right now, I would definitely take them up on that without a second thought!
Now, my life is full of being a helpmeet to my husband, raising two crazy teens, and working in the ministry. Horsemanship is not high on the list. If someone asked me what I wanted to be perfect at doing, I would say, “Christian, wife, mom, friend,” in that order.
However, we all know there is no “perfect” here in this imperfect world. Perfect is quite subjective when we really think about it. We are sinners, incapable of perfection. We will become annoyed at our husbands at some point. Our kids will drive us to the edge of insanity more often than we would like to admit. We will not make time to read our Bibles, or we will misalign our priorities surrounding our Christian service. We will forget to reach out to a friend when they need us most because life got busy. We will all fail, and we will do so over and over and over again. There is no perfection in this world.
Or is there?
I spent some time reading verses that used the word “perfect” in several forms. Every instance of “perfect” is tied to one thing: God making it so. Perfection is elusive until we get God involved.
Psalm 18:30 says, As for God, his way is perfect:..
Perfection can only be achieved when we allow God to do the perfecting. As we yield to His will daily, we give ourselves over to a little more perfecting. When we trust Him through hardships and trials, He perfects us a little more. When we surrender our insecurities and shortcomings to Him, He prunes and perfects us. As we step outside of our comfort zones to serve Him in the ministry, we allow Him to do some more perfecting on us.
Every day is an opportunity to be perfected, if we will let God do a work in us.
Jesus told the disciples in Matthew 19:21, …If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. When we give every aspect of our lives to Him, He can begin His work in our lives, perfecting a little here and a little there.
We will never be “perfect” here on earth, but we can be perfected to become everything God wants us to be in all the areas that matter most to us. Will I ever be the perfect wife? Probably not, because I am still not sure exactly what that is! However, I can be perfected to become the wife God wants me to be for my husband. I can be perfected to become the mom that God wants me to be for my children. Perfection is being exactly who God wants us to be in the places and roles where God has put us. Plus, in the process of being perfected by our God, we will find that perfect peace that will dismiss the self-doubt and insecure thoughts that tell us we are not perfect.
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. – Isaiah 26:3
by Tracie S. Burns
