Perfection and Other Lies (A Message to the Church)

“Christianity is not about building an absolutely secure little niche in the world where you can live with your perfect little wife and your perfect little children in your beautiful little house where you have no gays or minority groups anywhere near you. Christianity is about learning to love like Jesus loved and Jesus loved the poor and Jesus loved the broken.”

~Rich Mullins

Perfect bodies. Perfect language. Perfectly pressed shirts and matching shoes. Perfect people. Can we really be perfect? Of course not. But many of us try. Is it good enough to be good? Or is our good not good enough? Who's standards are we trying to keep up with and who are we trying to impress? Can we find a balance between constantly trying to grow and improve ourselves and reaching for the unrealistic goal of perfection?

Years ago, I wanted my children to think I was perfect. They couldn't know about my flares of anger or my occasional slip of the tongue. They couldn't know that I was like everyone else: human. They had to believe that I was Superman. A hero that never fails and always saves the day. Now I know I was doing them an injustice. I should have been transparent about my imperfection. I should have let them know that it’s alright to be human. It is alright to fail. That doesn't mean that we can't be good people. The Bible wants us to be good. To love others. To feed the poor. To make a difference in people's lives. Do we really change people by painting on a smile at church every week and making them believe faith solves all their problems? I wish we could wear signs that tell the world how broken we really are. I wish they knew the pews are filled with a messed up bunch of sinners. Are we afraid the world will reject Christ because they see that we are human..that we are sinners just like them?

I think the best gift we can give to the world is to stop trying to be perfect. That doesn't mean we shouldn't be like Christ. That means we have to realize we will NEVER be like him. More than anything, grace teaches us how utterly impossible it is to be like Him. Yet we strive and reach and fear and paint on the fake smiles week after week. May we be open and broken to a world that needs to know the job of the church is not perfecting its members, but making them see the importance and dependence we all have on grace.

Sorry if I seem cynical or sound like I am bashing the church. I am not. As I have said before, I love the church. And I love God's people. I just want us (myself included) to realize that perfection is a dead end and a source of frustration at best and insanity at worst.

So stop telling them they are broken if they are divorced. Stop reminding them they are going to hell when they know what it takes to get there and what it takes to avoid it. Stop reminding them of the size of your building or try to impress them with your grandiose and lengthy prayers. Just love them. And tell them what grace means to you and that you don't have it all together. Be transparent to the world and they will respect you for it.

I choose to fall on grace. That is my testimony of brokenness: a Christ-follower who is bumped and bruised and imperfect. Just like the rest of the world. 

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