So you started something new. Maybe a new fitness regime or a new bible reading plan or even a new diet and it can be so easy to fall into the trap of trying to be perfect. At first, you’ve got so much momentum. You’re opening the Bible, you’re hitting the gym or you are counting your calories just the way you planned.
Then you hit day three and something comes up. The kids are going crazy, work requires you in early and last night? Well last night you stayed up later than you expected sorting out that behind schedule project.
You end up missing that workout, you fall behind on your Bible reading and you grab that food that you said you will never eat again. And the worst thing, you feel like you failed.
Feeling like you failed so often causes us to lose steam and it’s not long before habits are back to normal and we realise it’s three weeks since our life was on track. Does this pattern sound familiar?
It’s because you are a victim of perfectionism
If it only takes one bad day to move into the failure camp, this will become a self-defeating mindset from the start.
Life is a marathon, not a Sprint and because of that is so important to focus on the bigger picture and not dwell on those times when you slip up.
As a person of faith, I’ve always been amazed at how God views and comments on people who are seen in the Bible as heroes of faith. For example David. When God speaks about David, he calls him, “A man after my own heart.” When we look at David, we might see that he was an adulterer, a murderer and a warmonger, I think God sees him differently because God doesn’t focus on the moments, or even seasons of failure no matter how great, but he focuses on the big picture of the whole life that David lived. A life pursuing and seeking after God.
Another example is Abraham. When the Bible speaks about Abraham, it says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Abraham is seen as the father of Faith, the example of believing in and trusting in God.
When we look at the life of Abraham, we see that Abraham tried to fulfil some of the promises of God in his own strength and he had extended periods of doubt when he did not think the promise would come to pass. Yet again though, we see God, not focusing on those moments and seasons, but on the whole of his life, where he obeyed what God had said and trusted him.
Don’t let perfectionism derail you from pursuing your goals, it’s a marathon, not a Sprint. And if you feel like you failed recently, just begin again.
Begin again today!
Paul Benger 