Excellence vs Perfection

This week at Haven we studied Excellence vs Perfection. I have to confess, I had my toes stepped on a lot! I'm an all or nothing kind of person, which can be a good thing and a bad thing. Perfectionist tendencies means that I tend to make myself neurotic in getting it right, or not doing it all. But what does God say? Does He expect perfection from us?

Actually, God expects excellence from us. He knows we aren't perfect. That's way He sent Jesus to us. Jesus was the only perfect one. We are wasting our time when we are seeking perfection or asking our children to be perfect. We will not attain! But we can certainly strive for excellence and He expects us too. Michael J Fox said, "I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence, I can reach for; Perfection is God's business." Edwin Bliss once said, "The pursuit of excellence is gratifying and healthy. The pursuit of perfection is frustrating, neurotic, and a terrible waste of time."

Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way. How on earth do we do that? This strikes me as a perfect parallel for living through grace, as opposed to the law. No one could keep the perfect letter of the law. Perfection is legalistic. Excellence is striving to be better than what you already are. When you strive for perfection, You will always be miserable because that’s a standard that you will never achieve. But when you strive for excellence, you will stay motivated because you just have to grow as a person and become better than what you are. How can we do that? Phil. 4:8 "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." also 1 Cor 12:31 "But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way." The most Excellent Way = LOVE! If you will notice, when He explains excellence, he goes right into the famous love chapter 1 Cor 13. We can't do anything of excellence without putting love into it! I encourage you to go read that chapter!

Henry Kissinger, in his book The Whitehouse Years, tells of a Harvard professor who had given an assignment and now was collecting the papers. He handed them back the next day and at the bottom of one was written, "Is this the best you can do?" The student thought, "no," and redid the paper. It was handed in again, and received the same comment. This went on ten times, till finally the student said, "Yes, this is the best I can do." The professor replied, "Fine, now I'll read it." What if God did that? What if every time we did something, He asked us, is this the best you can do? That's what He wants from us. Our Best! And He deserves it, after all, He gave us His best.

What kind of things keep us from excellence? Cynthia Heald lists these 7 things that keep us from achieving excellence:
Unconfessed Sin- Psalm 32:3-5; Anger-Eph 4:26; An unforgiving spirit-Eph 4:32; Self-centeredness-Phil 2:3-4; Anxiety-Phil. 4:6-7;. Neglecting responsibilities-Pro 31:27; Fatigue Psalm 127:1-2 Physical Disorders-2Cor 12:7-10



I found this on the internet and the author is unknown. I wish I knew who wrote it. It's full of wisdom. I pray you will take the journey of excellence, and give up on perfection. He never asked that of us anyway.

Excellence vs. Perfection

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Perfection is being right.
Excellence is being willing to be wrong.
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Perfection is fear.
Excellence is taking a risk
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Perfection is anger and frustration.
Excellence is powerful
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Perfection is control
Excellence is spontaneous
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Perfection is judgment
Excellence is accepting
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Perfection is taking
Excellence is giving
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Perfection is doubt
Excellence is confidence
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Perfection is pressure
Excellence is natural
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Perfection is the destination
Excellence is the journey
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-author unknown


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