The Word for Today
2026-11-16
God can set you free from perfectionism
Written by Bob and Debby Gass
Do you beat yourself up when you fall short of your expectations? Or do you feel that what you accomplish is never good enough? Are you slow to make a decision because you must make sure it is just right? Is your quest to be blameless really an attempt to protect yourself from criticism and disapproval? You'll never experience peace and emotional security if everything associated with you has to be perfect. Perfectionism is a mindset of self-defeating thoughts and behaviours aimed at reaching unrealistic goals.
Psychologist Dr. David Viscott explained it this way: "A controlling adult's wish to be perfect stems from the childhood wish to be blameless. Since real growth means embracing your faults and examining your weaknesses, controlling people run the greatest risk of becoming rigid and failing because of their insistence on always being right. They need to feel they are beyond criticism so that no one will have a good reason for withholding what they need or rejecting them. They believe they need to be perfect just to be safe, so admitting even small imperfections makes them uneasy and self-doubting."
In today's society, many people believe that being a perfectionist is desirable and necessary for success. Therefore, they wear their perfectionism like a badge of honour. The truth is that by being a perfectionist, you set yourself up to fail each day. But you don't have to live that way. Why? Because when you accept Christ as your Saviour, God accepts you with all your imperfections. And His unconditional love and acceptance set you free to love and accept yourself.
Soul food: Rom 15-16; John 10:22-33; Ps 50; Pro 29:13-14
Links to Bible verses: Holy Bible
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