When Chasing Perfect Never Feels Like Enough

Posted on Sep 10, 2020 Topic : Inspirational/Devotional, Women's Christian Living
Posted by : Alisha Illian

We were made to be perfect. In Matthew 5:48, Jesus reminds us,“You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

At first glance, this seems unattainable and hopelessly discouraging, yet Jesus would not have asked us to do anything that wasn’t possible and in our best interest.

Maybe the deep longing for something better—for perfection—is not wrong. Maybe it’s God-ordained. Maybe the bigger problem is that our desires are misplaced and we misunderstand God’s call to perfection.

You can eat all the kale,

Lift all the weights,

Take all the trips,

Trash all that doesn’t spark joy,

Wash your face and hustle like mad,

But if you don’t rest your soul in Jesus,

You’ll never find peace or purpose.

We often look in the wrong places for something better. We direct our attention and affections toward the things of this world. We settle for the gifts of God and forget the Giver.

When we grapple to find significance and fulfillment apart from Him, we enter a perpetual state of despair and discontentment. We were made to be perfect, but we cannot achieve it on our own.

The story of Mary and Martha in the gospel of Luke reminds us of this. Jesus entered their home with an entourage of followers. Immediately, Martha became anxious at the thought of hosting them, but Mary was not concerned. She sat content at the feet of Jesus, ready to learn from the teacher. When Martha complained to Jesus about Mary, Jesus gently reminded her that Mary had discovered the only one thing that was necessary and it wouldn’t be taken from her.

What was this mysterious only one thing?

It is the rest and peace found in Jesus Christ, our perfection.

The humbling and freeing truth is that Jesus became our perfection when He died on the cross. Our redemption was blood-bought and complete. We find relief when we rest in the work of our Savior. Unlike Martha who was busy doing many things, we don’t need to earn it. We can stop the never-ending pursuit to be enough, have enough, and do enough.

Jesus is enough.

If you don’t feel this inner peace but believe in Jesus, you may need to ask yourself—do you trust him? Do you believeHe is your everything?

The enemy will do everything he can to distract you. He’ll enthrall you with lesser things and deceive you into thinking perfection and peace can be found apart from Christ.

God never asked us to chase perfection, but to chase Jesus, who IS perfection. In doing so, we become more like Him. Through his Spirit and Word, we are renewed, refined, and transformed into his likeness. In our diligent and consistent efforts to draw near to Him and resist our flesh, we find peace.

We no longer strive to become somebody—we strive to know Somebody. Our purpose is not a plan or performance, but a continuous, deep, meaningful relationship with Christ, the Author and Perfecter of our faith.

Mary understood this life-transforming truth. There was only one thing necessary and that was Jesus. And Mary was satisfied with Him.

Unfortunately, we are often like Martha. We allow our jobs, our motherhood, our weight, our income, our friendships, and our ministries to define us.But rest can only be found at the feet of Jesus. When we pursue Him, all else falls into place.