The Tension of Perfection and Grace

 

Last week at a work meeting, the following quote was shared as encouragement and motivation in our jobs: "We will not achieve perfection, but we will find excellence in our pursuit of perfection” (Vince Lombardi). As an Enneagram 1 and perfectionist, the quote immediately grabbed my attention. Striving for perfection is a regular part of my life. I have a strong inner critic, and I’m constantly evaluating what I’m doing and saying to see if it matches up to what I think is right. 

I have an eye for catching small errors or things out of place and a strong desire to fix said errors. This tendency can serve me well when editing for my job, but it can also be problematic when I struggle to turn off that part of my brain for things that don’t truly matter or when it leads to being overly judgmental. I can easily get caught up in the small imperfections and forget to show grace to myself and others. 

Sleeping at Last has a song for each Enneagram type, and I love the message of the Type 1 song:

 “The list goes on forever

Of all the ways I could be better, in my mind

As if I could earn God's favor given time

Or at least congratulations

Now, I have learned my lesson

The price of this so-called perfection is everything

I've spent my whole life searching desperately

To find out that grace requires nothing of me”

 Grace requires nothing of me. What an amazing statement! God’s grace is freely given, not earned by the things I achieve or the words I say. The many imperfections of this life are evidence of the world’s brokenness and God’s true perfection. I don’t have to have everything together or do things just right for God to love me. He loves me because I am His creation and made in His image. He knows all my flaws and failures and is making me new. I need this reminder regularly. 

Yet this does not mean I should stop seeking perfection altogether or that the pursuit of perfection is fruitless. As the Lombardi quote reminds us, we can find excellence even if we can’t achieve perfection. We have each been entrusted with knowledge, skills, and resources that we are called to steward faithfully. Faithful stewardship does not require perfection, but it does require an attempt at excellence. We are not to be wasteful or careless with what God has given us. 

There is a tension between my desire for perfection and resting in God’s grace. But it can be a healthy tension if I let it. I don’t want to let myself go to either extreme: hypercritical or apathetic. There is a balance to be found in stewarding what I have been given with excellence while also resting in God’s abundant grace. The end of the Sleeping at Last song says it well: “I'll hold it all more loosely and yet somehow much more dearly.”

  --Concetta Swann

The Power of the Mind

 

I am so grateful for the youth leaders I had in middle and high school and for the program they put together to help us grow spiritually. It was called the Scholarship Program, because once we completed it, we were able to go on a mission trip, sprinkled with fun, that was sponsored by our church. (I went on two trips, one to the Bahamas and one to New York City.) Our leaders provided us with a list of spiritual disciplines to be completed each week with a special binder to track our progress. We learned about daily Bible reading, prayer, Scripture memory, church attendance (with notetaking), and visitation – just basic disciplines to help us grow. Somedays I was literally just “checking the box,” but other days I heard the voice of God. The good habits and a love for Scripture I learned stuck to me for life.

These days I like to mix things up during my devotion time to keep things fresh. Sometimes I do the read-the-Bible-in-a-year. Sometimes I dig deep and study a book of the Bible – usually one of the Pauline letters. I sprinkle in some inspirational books and focus on those topics for a while or maybe do a Bible study (recognizing that this is the work of people and not Scripture).

As I have grown older, memorizing Scripture has gone by the wayside. I convinced myself that I am no longer able to memorize. The words just do not stick! But recently I read the book, “Memorizing Scripture” by Glenna Marshall. She has convinced me that the hard work of memorization is truly worth it. It’s a thin, easy to read book that is chock full of depth and wisdom. I encourage you to get a copy. She gives some wonderful tips for memorizing, and I am finding that yes, I still can memorize! It has been easier than I thought. (The “Verses” app that she recommends has been very helpful to me.) I now have laminated copies of portions of Philippians in my shower and in my car. Finally, I have found a purpose for the “wasted” time I spend sitting at traffic lights! Now I can spend that time being “transformed by the renewing of my mind.”

How I long for that sort of transformation! The kind that leads to the filling of God’s Spirit, to righteousness, discernment, and a greater love for God and people. One that leads to tremendous joy despite circumstances.

I am also reading a book about transforming the mind from a completely different angle entitled, “You are the Placebo” by Dr. Joe Dispenza. It describes how one can use the mind to change one’s health and life. Being written from a New Age worldview, I would not necessarily recommend it. I’m praying that God would give me discernment as I try to see if there’s any truth in this book that I might put into practice. The author claims his ideas are based in science, but he describes people as “divine creators.” I found it interesting that he calls emotions like gratitude, love, joy, inspiration, peace, etc. the “elevated emotions” and the “limited emotions” listed are doubt, fear, anger, shame, etc. He states that gratitude is the most important emotion. It’s almost like he consulted the Bible on this! (He has some other ideas that sound suspiciously Scriptural.) If I am memorizing and meditating on Scripture, those emotions will develop in me without me putting my mind into a place of consciousness, which could open my mind up to evil things I don’t want – which is of course what this man recommends that I do.

One thing I HAVE come to believe is that the mind/ heart is very powerful. And so are our words. There’s an old saying, “What’s down in the well comes up in the bucket.” What is down in our hearts comes out in our words and actions. In Philippians 4, Paul tells us what to be thinking about, and they are all good, positive thoughts (I’m sure you are familiar with this passage). And how many times has God taught us in Scripture that He does not like a complaining, ungrateful heart? It is a fact that a more positive thought life leads to better health. He tells us that a cheerful heart is like a medicine.

I will leave you with one example that surprised me:

Not too long ago, I began to get sick. I pulled out all my usual herbs and supplements for the battle. I usually play some funny videos too, because I heard that laughter boosts the immune system, but this time I did something different, purely by accident. I like to journal our fun activities with family and friends, but I had gotten behind on that. So, since I could not get out, I decided to catch up by looking at brochures and pictures of the good times we had. I spent about 3 hours that day journaling, reminiscing, and smiling at pictures of my family and friends. I felt grateful and joyful. By the next morning, I was well. My husband, however, went on to be sick for several more days. Of course, I cannot say definitively that going down memory lane and thinking happy thoughts cured me, but it sure didn’t hurt!

So, what about you? Do you lean towards thinking positively or negatively? For many people, positive thoughts and gratitude must be cultivated. It was that way for me.

 

joyce hague

Listen to the Snow

 

It is late Friday morning, and I am sitting in my living room with a mug of hot chocolate next to me, a blanket over my lap, and the blinds pulled all the way up to reveal the beauty of snow as it falls through the sky to the ground where it is piling up. The kids have played outside and are now warming themselves up with their own cups of creamy hot chocolate. What a pleasant and peaceful day.

            Our God is the Creator of all things including the snow that is descending silently to the earth. I am currently reading a book entitled God of All Things in which the author shows how thirty ordinary objects or elements of nature mentioned in Scripture, such as mountains, honey, livestock, and trees, teach profound truths about God. While this book does not cover snow in its list of material things, snow shows up twenty-four times in the Bible. Might snow have been created not just to be beautiful but also to teach us truths that we can be reminded of every time we see it? As Andrew Wilson says in his book:

“Things take the form they do because they are created to reveal God. We describe God as ‘the Rock’ not just because rocks exist and they provide a good picture of safety and stability. Rocks exist because God is a Rock: the Rock of our salvation, the Rock who provides water in the desert, the Rock whose work is perfect and all his ways are just. When we flip things around like this, we get a very different picture of the purpose of creation, of physical stuff, of things. Ever since the beginning, the surface of this planet has been covered with rocks, and every one of them has been preaching a message of the faithfulness, security, and steadfastness of God.”

With this in mind, what is the falling snow telling us about God? Here are three truths though I’m sure there are more.

1. Snow speaks of the sovereignty of God over all His creation.

“He sends out his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly. He gives snow like wool; he scatters frost like ashes. He hurls down crystals of ice like crumbs; who can stand before his cold? He sends out his word, and melts them; he makes the wind blow and the waters flow

(Psalm 147:15-17).

Snow reminds us that God is in control of all things, and that as he controls the elements of nature, so His Word will stand in every aspect of life. None can upend it. He will accomplish His plans. (See also Psalm 148: 7-8 and Job 37:5-7.)

In Isaiah 55:9-11, God makes this point in a slightly different way: “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” Next time you see the snow fall, remember that God is sending it, and His purposes, His very words, will prevail.

2. Snow is a picture of the purity of God.

Daniel had a vision that he described in Daniel chapter 7. He saw the Ancient of Days, God Himself, sitting on a throne. Daniel’s description of God includes this statement: “His clothing was white as snow” (verse 9). This is the exact same metaphor given for Jesus’s clothing in Matthew 28:3 after His resurrection, “His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.” What is the significance of the clothing of both God and Jesus being described in this way? Part of the beauty of snow is its absolute whiteness, its purity in color, as it falls from the sky and blankets the earth. In Mark 9:3, Jesus’s clothing at the Transfiguration is reported to be “radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them.” The point is that the pure white, such as we see in snow, displays the radiance, beauty, purity, and absolute holiness of God the Father and of Christ as seen in His glorified body. As I look now out my window and see the white brilliance, may it move me to worship God.

3. Snow tells the gospel story.

“Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” (Psalm 51:7)

“’Come now, let us reason together,’ says the Lord, ‘Though your sins are scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.’” (Isaiah 1:18)

What an amazing thought... that the purity of the clothing of Jesus Himself can be mine as I trade my dirty rags for the robe of His righteousness. We, too, through Christ’s death on our behalf, can have our sins removed and be made clean. In God’s grace and unmerited favor toward us, the snow need not only remind us of the purity of His clothing, but also of the garments we will wear in our purity as we one day stand around the throne.

“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Rev.7:9-10)

Snow is telling the story of the glory of God (Ps. 19:1). Are you listening?

 

--Amy O'Rear

 

 

Love Life and See Good Days

 

Recently, as I was reading my Bible, I saw a date in the margin of I Peter 3: January 31, 1999. That was a little over twenty-five years ago, folks. Twenty-five years. I remember where I was standing in my kitchen when the import of those words in I Peter hit me, and I decided they would be a good goal for the coming year/decade/century/millennium. I think I must have been washing dishes or possibly preparing to cook because I was standing near the pots hanging on the blue pegboard beside the sink. (I no longer have the same kitchen but do still own some of the same pots. I think there’s a useful metaphor here, but I’ll have to save it for later.)

That I could think about the passage while standing in my kitchen is partly due to the fact that someone back in my college days urged me to memorize scripture—not just random scattered verses, but long sections with context and multiple sentences and paragraphs. I really can’t recall who or what spurred me to this endeavor; maybe I was simply prompted by God’s Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, I am grateful for the practice.

And here are the verses from I Peter 3:10-11—“For he that will love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile. Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it” (KJV). Let’s see those verses in a different version-- For

“Whoever desires to love life

and see good days,

let him keep his tongue from evil

and his lips from speaking deceit;

  let him turn away from evil and do good;

let him seek peace and pursue it (ESV).

 

In his letter to the churches, Peter is quoting a psalm of David. I’m thinking it’s possible Peter had himself memorized the psalm, and it came to his mind as he was giving instructions to believers in the proper way to conduct a Christian life.

 

I recently retyped and reorganized my memory list, trusting in God to lead me in the work. And this month I’m working on learning Psalm 34, the original source of these verses. It seems appropriate to be looking at these verses here at the beginning of yet another new year, for who among us doesn’t want to “love life and see good days”?

 

When I thought about these verses back in 1999, I determined that this admonition would be my goal for the year. I can’t confirm that I’ve adhered to every word over the years. Certainly the choice to turn away from evil and to speak only truth is one that must be made over and over, so these verses still stand out in my mind as something to aspire to, with God’s help. If you’re still casting about for your word for the year or a goal you might put in front of yourself, here are some possibilities:

 

1.    Memorize scripture.

2.    Keep my tongue from evil.

3.    Seek peace.

4.    All of the above.

 

--Sherry Poff