It can be a frustrating thing to live under the weight of perfectionism. In fact, it can be quite debilitating. Think of living every single day trying your best to always get everything right, to never mess up once no matter what you are doing. And all the while, you know you can never get there. To make matters worse, it’s not good enough that you’re trying real hard. It’s not even good enough if you get close. Remember, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.
It’s one thing if you’re trying to live up to your own perfect standards; it can be quite another when it’s someone else’s. Perhaps you’ll learn to cope with your own unreasonableness. Maybe you’ll eventually learn to give yourself an “A” for effort. But if it’s someone else’s perfectionist traits you’re trying to appease, you may be in for a miserable time of it, especially if that person is someone very close or important to you. What if that perfectionist is your parent, your spouse, your boss, your teacher, your coach, or your friend? What if they are on you regularly, constantly criticizing and belittling you because you keep coming up short in their eyes? What if your entire relationship is built on trying to please them? Wouldn’t we consider this to be abusive?
And yet that’s how many of us think of God. We see Him as this demanding perfectionist in heaven looking down at us with glaring, angry, disapproving eyes because we keep messing up. I know I once held that view of Him, at least to some degree. I remember as a child thinking of God as being somewhat like some of the nuns I had as teachers in school – one wrong move and WHACK goes the ruler across the knuckles.
We American Christians are obsessed with our behavior. We’ve come to think that that’s what God cares about most. We’re so obsessed by it that that is the central message heard in many churches on Sunday mornings. “Clean up your act or else.” Straighten up or God’s going to get you.” Nonsense! If you’re in Christ, you’re HIs – period! This behavior obsession has become so prevalent that is has even colored the way we view sanctification. As I mentioned last week, we’ve come to think of being sanctified as the process of cleaning up our outward behavior when it simply means that God has set us apart for Him.
I’m not saying that God doesn’t care about our behavior. Of course He does. He doesn’t want to see His children indulging the flesh. Sin always brings about harmful consequences. But rather than focusing on our outward actions, He’s more concerned with what’s happening on the inside. Just look at Jesus’ words as recorded by Matthew. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.” (Matthew 23:25-26) And just in case we missed his point, Jesus further declared, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” (Matthew 23:27-28)
I think Jesus’ point is abundantly clear, and it wasn’t that we should use Dawn Dishwashing Soap on both the outside and inside of our dirty dinner dishes. His point is, what good would it do anyone to have the best, most pristine-looking behavior on the outside if they are dead on the inside? Would God be pleased with someone who could live by all the rules, as if any of us could, but yet their heart was far from Him?
Think of Jesus’ encounter with the rich young ruler in Luke 18:18-27. The rich ruler wanted to know what he had to do to inherit eternal life. Notice what his concern was based on – what he had to do. He was focused on outward actions. Jesus reminded him of the commandments, to which the ruler claimed that he had followed all of them since he was a boy. Now putting aside his “humility” for a moment, Jesus was trying to help the ruler realize how futile it would be to try to earn eternal life by trying to be perfectly obedient to God’s commandments. He clearly didn’t get it. So Jesus shifted it to the next gear. He challenged the ruler to sell everything he had and give it to the poor. The young man went away sad because he didn’t want to part with his great wealth.
Now before we miss it, Jesus was not suggesting that the way to eternal life is to sell everything we have. What he was attempting to do was to get the rich ruler to realize that the way to eternal life is not through what we do. In fact, it is impossible for us to ever be good enough to earn eternal life. As Jesus said in response to his disciples, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” (Luke 18:27)
Here’s the deal. I believe we have confused sanctification with transformation. Sanctification results in the inside change that Jesus referred to. Remember that once we’re saved, we are born again as a new creation. We are made new on the inside where the Spirit of God is united with our new spirit and new heart. At that moment we’ve been set apart from our old dead spirit and made alive again. But obviously our flesh is still our flesh. That hasn’t changed and that’s where transformation comes into the picture.
Transformation has to do with the changes that occur in our outward behavior, thinking, and attitudes after we’ve been justified and sanctified. It’s something that typically happens over an extended period of time. It is what Paul refers to when he implores the Christians in Rome to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind,” (Romans 12:2) or when he reminds the Ephesians “ to be made new in the attitude of your minds.” (Ephesians 4:23) Our mind is the battleground upon which the fight for a clean outside takes place. That’s because our actions and emotions typically follow what we think or believe. If you believe you’re still nothing but a rotten sinner saved by grace, you will most likely act like a rotten sinner.
But that’s not what you are. God has made you new. He wants you to know that and believe that. That’s why we are urged to fix “our eyes on Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2) and to “set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” (Colossians 3:2) As we focus on Jesus, our minds begin to change. As our minds change, what we believe about ourselves begins to change. As we begin to see ourselves for who we truly are in Christ, our behavior and attitudes begin to change too. And that’s how the outside of the dish is cleaned.
So don’t put the cart before the horse. Don’t make the transformation of your outward behavior, thinking, and attitudes more important than your sanctified heart. If you are in Christ, you have been sanctified. Your are new, your are His, and you already have eternal life. Believe it and accept it. And then allow God’s essential grace to start transforming in your life today.
Essential Grace 