I’ve been a perfectionist my entire life. Although it has helped me to work hard and stay out of trouble, anyone else like me knows that perfectionism can do a LOT of damage. You can probably relate when I say that I’ve often felt anxious, depressed, afraid of failure, and inadequate when trying to measure up to seemingly impossible standards. If that also describes you, I hope you will benefit from this list I put together of things that have helped me!

1. Perfection was already earned for you, so stop trying to do it yourself.
   To illustrate my point, the Air Force Academy has a physical fitness test known as the PFT, which includes pull-ups, long jump, sit-ups for two minutes, push-ups for two minutes, and a 600-meter run. Thankfully it is passable, but imagine for a second that they raised the passing standard to 1,000 pull-ups, 50 feet for the long jump, 600 push-ups, 750 sit-ups, and 30 seconds for the 600-meters. No one could do it, until Cadet Clark Kent cranked them all out (and gave away his secret identity, obviously). The faculty agreed that you could either take your own score or have his score count for you. Many people in the Apostle Paul’s time essentially said that they thought they could meet the standard by working out in the gym a little harder. But the fact is, God has offered complete perfection through his Son Jesus, and all we need is to believe in him. Nothing else required. So that means you can rest and stop trying to earn the perfection that has already been earned for you. As Romans 10:4 says, "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes" (ESV).
   
2. Your high standards are actually good.
   God is actually the One who gave you your desire to excel, so don’t feel like you have to lower your standards. You shouldn’t. But just know that it is the love and grace of Jesus, and him living inside of you, that enable you to actually do it.
   
3. Ask for help.
   On a very practical level, if you can’t do something on your own, ask for help. There’s no shame in that, and it actually is a mark of humility. Jesus called the Holy Spirit “the Helper,” and for good reason. If he could change Paul, the ISIS-equivalent to the first Christians, into one of Christ’s most passionate and loving followers, he will most definitely help you with your struggles. Just ask! Why would God say “no” to your prayer to become more like him?
   
4. Stop demeaning yourself.
   I know all too well what it's like to deflect compliments and feel like you have to say something negative about yourself when you're scared of getting prideful. But when you demean yourself, you're simply fueling a cycle of unending moral anxiety. If Colossians 1:12 says that God changed you into a saint of light when you believed in him, why do you still tell yourself that you're still a sinner?
   
5. Good thinking leads to good actions.
   Romans 12:2 says that God wants you to "be transformed by the renewal of your mind" (ESV). Along the lines of what I said earlier, if you think the tree is a sinner, you will most definitely see sinful fruit. But if you think the tree is a righteous saint, you should start to see righteous fruit. Also, please understand that believing in Jesus is not simply believing that he exists. If you are unwilling to acknowledge the standard Jesus fulfilled for you, you are believing in a different god who justifies and tolerates the sin that the real Jesus died to set you free from. If that is you, please do not feel like you have to resist any longer, because it is the Spirit of grace who empowers you to believe and to live it. I know that people have made it seem like a solitary effort, but Jesus, in his pure, infinite, unconditional, and intimate love that he has always had for you since before the world began, helps us when we feel unable to do it (Hebrews 4:15-16). Because the truth is that without him, absolutely no one can.
   
6. You’re actually already perfect, or can be in just a minute.
   This to me is the icing on the cake. Hebrews 10:14 says that he has perfected believers for all time by a single sacrifice (read it for yourself!). If you believe in Jesus, you are perfect – your actions and mind just haven’t caught up with you yet. And if you don’t believe in Jesus yet, that same perfection is offered to you freely without any effort. When we believe, our identity is not shaped by our actions and mind, but rather our actions and mind are shaped by our identity. 2 Corinthians 5:21 also says “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (ESV). Read that again. You don’t just have God’s righteousness, you ARE God’s righteousness. And since God’s righteousness is perfect, you are too. If you ever find yourself messing up, just remind yourself of this and thank God that your past action is not who you are, but rather Christ’s perfect actions are what define you.

Considering the fact that I still have been struggling with perfectionism, I wrote this article both for myself and for you. And please know this – Jesus said that the truth is what sets us free, and that means that the chains of inadequacy, guilt, shame, depression, and anxiety will fall off once we believe the truth about who Jesus is and who we are because of what he did for us. I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty excited!

Works Cited:

English Standard Version. Wheaton: Crossway, 2007. Print.