Free from Perfectionism, Free to Live with Confidence

Perfectionism devastates.  I believe that perfectionism is one of the silent sins that wages war on people and destroys and yet perfectionism is rarely ever talked about or discussed.  Perfectionism attacks every kind of person and there isn't an area in life that can be protected from the desire to appear perfect.  From physical appearance, to GPA, to Athletics, to your family, to video games, music, hobbies, children, your home, cooking, career, ect.  Every aspect of life is susceptible to the sin of perfectionism.

The scary thing is that often times we don't see perfectionism as harmful or wrong but we even celebrate it in our own lives, we mask it with "i just really want to do my best", "I can be better", "Why do anything half-hearted".  We believe that perfectionism is a private issue with how we view ourselves, when really the issue is that we don't want to appear as less than perfect to others.  Perfectionism is a sin of wanting to be perceived perfectly by others, not a private issue that is isolated to ourselves.

Perfectionism sucks the joy out of your life and drives you to despair.  When I was a sophomore in college I bought the newest FIFA soccer video game...and I was good...really good.  I found that I could beat anyone at it and I wanted to be ranked highly in the game worldwide.  So I played and played and played to the point where I was in the top 10 in the US and top 50 in the world.  I wanted to be number 1 so bad!  And what happened was it sucked all my free time away, when I wasn't playing I was thinking about the ground I was losing, I became furious when I lost, and it sucked all of the joy out of the game.  One afternoon I simply threw the game away because I hated it and I hated myself from getting trapped by it.

The gospel frees us from perfectionism!  The gospel says that we are sinners (Romans 3:23), we all have blemishes, we cannot achieve perfection on our own!  Perfectionism says "you can be God" the gospel says "you need a savior!"

The awesome part is that we do have a savior his name is Jesus and he is our perfection.  Jesus was perfect (2 Cor 5:21) and because of what he did on the cross we are made perfect in God's eyes!  Even more, the Bible says that through our weakness Christ is made strong in us (2 Cor 12:9).

Here is the good news, we don't have to be perfect and when we fail, fall short, and disappoint we can glorify in our savior who is our perfection and is working through us.  This allows us to live boldly and take risks because at the end of the day its not about us and how others perceive us, it is about Jesus!

The gospel frees us from perfectionism and allows us to live with boldness and confidence resting in what Jesus has already accomplished on our behalf!

Free From Guilt....Free To Begin Again (Part 1)

One of the greatest deterrents from us embracing the gospel and having victory in our lives is guilt!  

Dave Hulings, the head coach at WMC (where I assistant coach) blew my mind yesterday when he made this statement:  "Satan always gives me 2 lies, the first is that God doesn't care about my sin, and the second is that God hates sin so much that he would never want me back."

So often we find ourselves trapped in believing the second lie.  Satan loves to remind us of our failures, our sin, and our inability to measure up to God's holiness.  Satan whispers in our ear "how could God love you?  You are dirty and weak and don't deserve God's love"  This guilt that we carry usually leads to 2 courses of action, neither good options...

1.  Our guilt causes us to despair in our condition and drive us further into sin.  We hate ourselves, become depressed, believe that we are not loved or sought after, which causes us to plunge deeper and deeper into the sin we hate!  I have had multiple young men so depressed by their sin that it has caused them to contemplate suicide.  This is what Satan wants, to destroy us!

2.  We try to merit back God's favor.  We believe if we clean up enough on the outside we can fool God into thinking we are clean.  This attitude breeds legalism, we love rules that we can follow to "prove our worth" and we also love reveling in others failures to shift the focus off of ourselves.  We become unloving, harsh, bitter, and miserable as we seek to earn God's love and approval through deeds, masking a spiritual hopelessness we feel.

What Does The Gospel Say About This?

The gospel says that we are absolutely sinners and that there is no way we can measure up to God's holiness (Rom 3:23).  But here is the awesome news: Christ has measured up for us! (2 Cor 5:21, Jn 3:16)  And what's so amazing is that through what Jesus has done for us on the cross, we actually receive Christ's righteousness and are made PERFECTLY CLEAN in the eyes of God! (2 Cor. 5:21)  

On the cross Jesus paid the full penalty of our sin and we have been purchased by Jesus no longer under the authority of sin and guilt.  The sin we commit today, tomorrow, next week does grieve God, hurt relationships, and harms our testimony, but it can never separate us from God's Love! (Rom. 8:39)  If it could, than Christ wasn't victorious.  Satan wants you to believe sin and death won the day but we know that on the 3rd day Jesus rose victorious!

Finally, the gospel says we have been made new and clean in Jesus! (2 Cor. 5:17) Our sin is gone, we have no need to feel guilt, but we are free from this point forward to embrace the forgiveness found in Christ and move forward serving, loving, and walking with him!  That is the hope of the gospel that Jesus completely removes our guilt and allows to continually begin again!

Free From and Free To Series

Over the next coming weeks I am going to be sharing a blogging series based on the gospel and what Jesus as freed us from and what he has freed us to!  

My heart behind this subject is that I believe at the heart of all sin is a failure to believe the gospel and put our hope and trust solely in Jesus.  I council with many young men and high school students and what I have seen is that failure to believe the gospel effects relationships, how we view ourselves, our joy, our prayer and devotional life, our hope, and our faith!  

My hope is that in this study will clearly and practically outline what Christ has accomplished for us, freed us from and empowered us to achieve!

Also....I will probably turn this into a sermon series someday so you all get to be my test dummies!

Dear followers...

Hi everyone, there will be 1 or 2 more blog posts coming next week, in the meantime, let me point your attention to the HBC Spring Lake Blog.  This is a great resource the pastors have been working on for a few months designed to help give a resource library to and for you!  We hope is a help and blessing to you.  Take some time to check it out....we already have over 80 articles posted with more to follow!


have a great weekend


Cal

High School Retreat This Weekend

Harvest Bible Chapel Spring Lake has their first ever high school retreat this weekend!  We have got a great group of students getting ready to have a great time!  Here is what is on the agenda:

1. Hopefully great weather!

2. Great fellowship and fun!

3. Good Food!

4. Worshipping God through His word, music, and art!

5. Focused and intentional quiet time with the Lord!

6. Praying for students to be confronted with Jesus and that big decisions for Christ would be made this weekend!

I am looking forward to giving an update next week.