Like My Perfect / Part 1
It seems to me, there is a fight in life to pursue perfection. Scroll through Instagram, for example, and I think you’ll see what I mean. We tend to reveal the side of ourselves that we like, or better yet, we love. It’s our highlight reel that shows people a side of us that looks good, is skilled and determined in hopes that it’ll show the rest of the world just how good we are — or should I say, how good we wish we really were.
It’s probably a little different for everyone. For me, the categories are best looking, most fit, the fastest turn, the biggest jump, coolest style, the best… fill in the blank. Maybe nobody has told us that we’re really talented or beautiful lately, so we look for acceptance in the number of “likes” or the comments section. I hope you can relate to my struggle in this. The struggle that we tend to only want to show the perfect side of ourselves, and never the ugly, or the real side of ourselves.
Check out what 1 Peter 3:3-4 in the (NIV) bible says: "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight."
So in our outward minds, we want to be liked, loved and praised. And when we’re not, do we tell ourselves we’re not good enough? For me, the thought of not being accepted is an uncomfortable one for sure.
Many of us claim to want genuine interaction with others, sharing our thoughts and views. But as soon as put we it out there, people look at us like we’re a bit strange. Why is this? Perhaps it’s because it doesn't look perfect, because it's messy, crazy and weird. Not because genuineness is any of these things, but because it usually doesn't try and force itself to look perfect — and that's so much of what we are use to.
We try to look perfect. Genuineness isn’t perfect, so it looks strange. Make sense?
These are just my observations, and I’m hoping this jives a little. By no means should it make you wanna smack your momma, but can you see where my head is at? If not, I'm gonna be one of those weirdos. So where am I going with this? As a recovering perfectionist, maybe not too far (haha)! Where I hope to go is here:
A place where we understand we are not perfect, and that perfection is a deception. It's a wonderful thing to strive for, but is it realistic? Not for us. For Jesus is the only one I know to have been perfect here on earth. Regardless of how good we might be at a few things, or how great our bodies look, how funny we are, creative, intelligent, willing we are to take our clothes off, or how good our highlight reel or social feed looks — there has only been one who has lived a perfect life, and it's not you or me.
Check out what 1 Samuel 16:7 says: "But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
Man I'm a downer, and I hope people still like me. C'mon bro! I'm only spilling what we all already know (if we’re being honest with ourselves). The reason I bring this up is because Jesus loves genuineness. If we all thought about it for a minute and dropped our guards, I think we'd love it too. I know, you’re saying, ”Hold on bro, bringing up Jesus here? I see a lot of people claiming they know Jesus and are ‘Christians’ — and they’re some grade “A” fart cakes.”
I agree. And we’ll chat about this in my next post. #BeTheLight