Ever have one of those days when you sit down, sigh, look at your computer’s keyboard and ask yourself:
…….What’s the point?
I think I had one of those days today.
Nothing, and I mean nothing seemed to go right. It first started with an i-link cable, a cam recorder, and an outdated program which just seemed to suck the time away from an already packed to-do-list.
First world problems right?…
Right.
Even with this knowledge, which does help put things into perspective. I am still juggling things.
Alas for us ‘recovering perfectionists’ (Brene Brown, 2010).
We tend to weigh ourselves down with unrealistic expectations. Even though most people, besides the recovering perfectionist that is, truly expects the same kinds of results.
So my day becomes a learning experience.
Yet again I am reminded of my perfectionism or rather my imperfection. The people pleasing. The obsessive compulsive need to quadruple check every “i”, cross every “t”, and make sure that the colour of my power-point matches the tone of my topic.
Instead of “expecting” perfect as the ideal standard; I am reminded that we should aim for excellence. The framework of our understanding should be the view that excellence is the result of having given our best.
Something I know that Father, Son and Holy Spirit will graciously use despite the ‘imperfect offerings’ (Cohen).
This is in direct contrast with the world’s standards of excellence! The Biblical understanding is that God works through our imperfections. For example: excellence in prayer is not based on our performance it is based on the intercession of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:26).
Paul substantiates this stating that ‘God’s power is made perfect in our weakness’ (2 Cor. 12:9 my paraphrase).
Christians cannot rely on ideological standards that equate excellence with professionalism. There must be more to what we do than polished appearances and pristine performances. Otherwise our work which expresses itself as an offering of worship becomes an overproduced product. Something that spews forth from an apostate market-driven ‘ecclesiastical machine’ (Tozer, ‘Whatever happened to worship‘, p.11).
The good news is that:
God loves our authenticity.
The biblical narrative teaches us that excellence is found in authenticity. This is because human authenticity comes from the God who alone is perfection par excellence.
Close to the time of my birthday a few years back, our youngest daughter handed me a picture she had made. She had worked hard on this for an hour or so, all the while making sure she kept it hidden from me.
I cannot help but love this because I know it comes from her heart. This expression of authenticity is not artistically precise and will not win any major art awards, but it did win my heart. BIG TIME!!!
I like to think that this is what Father God feels about our worship. When Christians give God their best, they give him an authentic expression of love and appreciation.
Related reading:
Perfection is overrated – delightfuloak.wordpress.com
Recovering perfectionist – triciaoaks1.wordpress.com
Brown, B. 2010 The Gifts of Imperfection
