Perfectionism is a dangerous way of thinking that can destroy any relationship and can destroy a nation. If we have conditions for perfection that must be filled in order for us to love and accept one another, we will make life extremely difficult if not impossible. If perfection requires performance, we will always fail. If God made perfection necessary for His acceptance, we all fail. In fact, the Bible tells us that we all fall short of the glory of God. God tells us that we have all sinned and are headed for disaster. The wages of sin is death. Heaven will not allow the slightest sin to enter. So how in the world do we find our way into heaven, how can we be perfect?
The answer is Jesus Christ. He died for all of our sins so that we could be found not guilty. He paid for our sins in full on the cross to liberate us from our own failures. He died to give us life.
He who knew no sin became sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21
He died to sin so that He could be made perfect! Righteousness is perfection! But it is not our perfection that we claim, it is by faith in Christ’s perfection that we place our confidence. We cross over from death to life due to Christ’s sacrifice for us. His perfect forgiveness makes us saints, children of God if we believe in Him to save us. He loves the sinner and hates the sin. He died for the sin to save the sinner. The sinner is all of us!
Our nation seems to be sliding toward division due to the lack of forgiveness of sin. Attacking one another instead of forgiving one another is prophesied in Galatians 14-15:
For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
If you have been magnanimously forgiven by God for every single sin so that you now are able to stand before God innocent even though you deserve to be judged and rejected for your sin, how should you treat others? Does God expect us to judge others for imperfection so that we can justify hatred? That dear friend is the bait that the devil has set for us. He loves to expose and magnify sin and lead us to tear down others. The devil uses unforgiveness of sin to steal, kill and destroy us (John 10:10).
