Nobody is perfect. Everyone has flaws. The pursuit of perfection is the cause of numerous mental struggles.
Sound familiar? It sure does to me. I remember hearing these words ring in my head as a source of comfort whenever I made a mistake.
For my Apo people, you’ll get this: I was born in a Christian home, but that didn’t automatically make me a Christian. Here is a clearer version of this statement—I grew up in a home where perfection in Christ was common knowledge, but I didn’t come to understand this until much later in life.
Those comforting phrases I used to lean on? Well, they started feeling more like prickly roses when I began my Christian journey. “Nobody is perfect?” But didn’t God tell Abraham to walk before Me and be thou perfect? Then again, He knoweth our frame and knows that we are feeble—so does that mean He understands I can’t actually be perfect? Why, then, did He ask it of Abraham? Was not Abraham a man of like passions as me?
Pheww, all our righteousness are as filthy rags. Are you kidding me? Why bother trying to be perfect? Sounds like a futile journey—maybe I should just accept my flaws and call it a day.
Wait, hold up—Apostle Paul struggled with the same thing? (Romans 7: 19-25).
Friend, do you see? Our struggle with perfection happens because we’re approaching it the wrong way. “No one is perfect”—that’s true. But as Christians, as those who are Christ-like and carry His seed, we don’t need to struggle for perfection. In Him, everything is already made perfect.
The moment we come to Christ, believe, and receive the transforming grace of salvation, we become perfect in Him. Our mistake is trying to achieve perfection on our own, and that’s why we keep failing and getting discouraged. Let’s go back to that verse about Abraham being called to walk in perfection. If you look closely, God says, “Walk before Me and be thou perfect.” He didn’t say, “Walk before Me. Be perfect.” He used “and,” a conjunction—something sequential. Walk before Me, and you will be perfect. Walk with Me, and perfection naturally follows. Rely on Me, and you won’t have to worry about falling short.
This is the truth we rest in: as redeemed souls, our perfection is in Jesus. Nothing—our flesh, our humanity, our weaknesses—can take away our perfection in Christ, as long as we continue to walk with Him in obedience.
So, my dear friend, I invite you on this journey of perfection in Christ. You don’t need to feel condemned anymore. For whoever the Son sets free from imperfection, impurities, and sin is truly free indeed.