Can YOU Resist Tilt-a-Whirl PERFECTION?

I got trapped fixating on PERFECTION this morning. So I prayed immediately and asked God for a reminder of what I already knew. Something I had allowed to wander away as today’s sun struggled to find an opening through a darkened sky. I started by remembering that seeking perfection is, and has always been, WRONG.

What’s different today is how high the stakes have shot through the roof. Yes, perfection has been a threat to man from the beginning, but our 21st Century “Tilt-a-Whirl” society has taken the danger level to new and scary heights.

HERE’S WHY…

Perfection is about COMPARING something in our life to someone or something else. Doing that has become “easy” with a digital kaleidoscope–brought to us by the now ubiquitous internet—raining images and messages down on us 24/7/365. These images produce an illusion that perfection is not only possible but something we MUST HAVE. Heck, how many put 100% TRUTH on their Facebook feed? So we’re left with messages and images that scream perfection.
We fall for that allure of perfection because God created us with a predisposition to seek perfection. But only HE is perfect.
Most believers understand this point most of the time. But that understanding is fragile. It can quickly disappear once life’s Tilt-A-Whirl bolts from the safety of its loading zone and life’s turbulence sends us on a hunt for perfection to calm the storm.
This is when Christians are most vulnerable to have their faith dislocated and experience everything from mild frustration to horrific pain as we try to make things “perfect.”
When we end up in that predicament, it’s time to remind ourselves that we live in a sin-stained world of crimson sloshing between the jagged edges of brokenness. Remember, we will not have perfection until we are in Heaven.
Here’s where I turn when that scenario shows up and where I turned this morning:
“Seek your happiness in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desire.” Psalm 37:4
Sounds clear, right? Well…hang on.
Early in my faith walk I did not fully understand that verse.
I missed the essence of God’s message–that our heart’s desire must be for a form of perfection that is FOUND ONLY in the Lord.
I mistakenly thought Psalm 37:4 called us to make God happy by following him and checking boxes on a Christian checklist—go to church and give money and eat bad casseroles on Wednesdays—so he would give us whatever we want.
I missed it by a mile! I had failed to realize that my true heart’s desire needed to be in knowing, loving, and serving Christ.
It can be easy to confuse our true desire for a relationship with a perfect God with what the world says we should desire–earthly “perfection” through other people, achievements, possessions, and the coveted pleasures we chase.
I ask God to give me the strength to make HIM my greatest desire and allow HIM to fulfill my need and yearning for “perfection.”
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
Are you trying to live a perfect Christian life?
“Worship no god but me.” Exodus 20:3