Good News for Perfectionists By Kim HylandSample

Day Two

Not Enough

Scripture: Genesis 3:6

Imperfection has become a trend. With hashtags like #liveauthentic and books persuading us to lay down the elusive goal of perfection, we have felt the noose of perfectionism loosen from around our necks ever so slightly. We can breathe again, and we’re learning to enjoy life as is. Some for the first time. It’s wonderful!

Until we forget and find ourselves chasing a newer and better promise for soul satisfaction. Why is it so easy to slip back into perfectionism?

It is because we are made for Eden. Our hearts are forever longing to return to that place of perfection. That is why we are forever vulnerable to the promises of perfection that come in every color, shape, and size. When one doesn’t satisfy, there are a million others that might. We embark on a futile yet relentless pursuit of our legitimate, God-given desire for Eden and its perfection, wondering why nothing ever quite satisfies our hearts. And perfectionism takes root.

Perfectionism is a futile attempt to achieve perfection on our own, a demand for control of our lives now and on our terms. In other words—as we remember Eve taking fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—perfectionism is the original temptation.

Eve didn’t think she was better than God. She didn’t think she was more powerful than God. She didn’t think she was smarter than God. Eve just believed the lie that she needed more than God. He wasn’t enough. In her disbelief, she turned her head and heart to her own resources, ambitions, and abilities. And in her disobedience, Eve condemned herself and all her sons and daughters to a lifetime of not enough.

The irony is that not enough is actually the truth. Nothing on this earth will fill our heart’s cry for Eden. Everything in us longs for that place of perfection—the place where all our needs are provided for, where we’re secure and loved, and where our heart’s desires find fulfillment.

The problem with the not enoughs is how they can lure us into a futile search to find enough in others, in things, and in ourselves. That is pride at its most deceitful, because apart from God, there really is not enough.

How does your perfectionism reveal pride?