The Illusion of Perfection

In our current time of brief interactions with people in person and via social media it easy to appear as if we have life together and others do as well. Many people’s facebook pages say something along the lines of “I am so lucky to be married to the best husband ever and have wonderful children and a wonderful life.” When I read things like this on facebook, I can see why people write these things. I think I have a wonderful husband too, however, life is of course not perfect everyday. When I read these statements on facebook, I realized it’s tempting to think that people’s lives are perfect all the time. This is just not the case. Before technology boomed we interacted with friends on a more personal basis, which allowed us to see more of the facets of people’s lives. I am not suggesting social media is evil or bad, I am simply pointing out the ease with which we can compare ourselves to other without every truly knowing how others are doing on a basis.

Leaving social networking aside, many people, including myself, try to put on a perfect face with people whom we interact with on a minimal basis. For example, at times I hear people ask another, “You doing okay today?” This is a question that only leaves one correct answer, “Yes.” I am not suggesting we bear our souls to strangers or friends we do not consider close. However, I was just struck by the ease at which we can assume everyone else’s lives are perfect and ours are not.

Perfection cannot be achieved by humans. We must remember we are all a work in progress, some of us more than others; yet, we have a savior who is ready and willing to meet us in our imperfections. Some Christians believe that God cannot use him or her because he or she is too sinful or imperfect. This is false; God can use all people where we are as we move along in our sanctification process. If you do not believe in the Christian God and that Jesus’ death can stand in place of your imperfections or think you are too bad to be saved, maybe you should at least investigate it. I think you will be surprised at how God uses many imperfect people for his glory and sent one perfect person (Jesus) to make up for all of our imperfections. Just look at the Bible, God uses many sinners for his glory. Don’t let surface interactions fool you. We are all broken people and we cannot save ourselves.