For years, I’ve told myself, “Grace and perfection can’t coexist. I must pick one. The first will leave space for new beginnings, peace, and rightful humility, and the latter will leave me exhausted, defeated, and bitterly contending with God.” Of course, I rarely live out this little reminder I created for my spiritual sanity, but thankfully, it seems that others are recognizing the freedom found in laying down the pursuit of perfection.
Technology demands more of us than it should, as we are now expected to know everything, communicate with everyone, and be everywhere at all times. With that, I believe people are realizing that this demand is impossible to uphold, and it certainly shouldn’t be honored.
Thus, many have adopted the idea of “good enough,” which leans away from flawlessness while leaning into sustainable rhythms, routines, and relationships. “Good enough” recognizes that perfection is simply impossible. However—and this is a crucial point—we aren’t good enough at anything to sustain its goodness.
Even in the name of surrendering perfection, if we don’t understand that we aren’t quite good enough at anything to consistently adhere to the requirements for healthy rhythms, routines, and relationships, we will find ourselves trapped in the same debilitating mindset that perfection left us.
With that in mind, how might releasing perfectionism, and even the trending idea of being “good enough,” help us live with more peace, gratitude, and trust in His grace rather than in our performance?
What Does Scripture Say about Our Performance?
At first, Romans 3:10-12 (ESV) can appear harsh: “as it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.’” But we must approach this Scripture with fewer knee-jerk feelings and a bit more theology (and even practical thinking).
We can’t be worthless if a good, perfect God hand-fashioned us in the womb. The Bible says we are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:13-14), which instantly grants us untouchable worth. God has predestined our purpose to bring Him glory, and in this purpose, He allowed His Son to die so that we could find joy, peace, and eternal life.
We don’t sound so worthless now, do we?
Rather, Romans is saying that once we “have turned aside” and seek our fulfillment in anything other than God, even in routines, rhythms, and relationships that aren’t perfect but are “good enough,” we have forgotten two things:
1. Good things can’t be consistently sustained by flawed people.
2. Good things can only be preserved by God’s perfect hand.
So Why Try Being Good at Anything?
So if “good enough” still isn’t good enough to fulfill us, why try being good at anything? Because it’s less about performance and more about becoming.
Without Christ and His image as our first and true pursuit, we don’t know how to define “good enough.” And if we already struggle with perfectionism, “good enough” will never become enough.
I’m not saying to throw rhythms and routines to the wind. As someone with an anxious mind, healthy rhythms and routines help keep me grounded. However, rhythms and routines are constantly thrown curveballs thanks to life in a sinful world. People get sick, appointments have to be rescheduled, toddlers throw tantrums, teens sulk and pout, spouses have a bad day, a flat tire destroys the monthly budget, etc.
If our pursuit is maintaining a “good enough” routine and not becoming more like Christ in how we address these unrhythmic, unpredictable days, we are missing the point. We are still creating all of these manmade tools to make us feel as if we’ve succeeded, even if that success isn’t perfection.
After all, what is “good enough” without the Spirit’s joy, peace, patience, and kindness that are only cultivated when all of our manmade systems crash, burn, and leave us feeling that “good enough” won’t cut it this time around? Simply put: being “good enough” without Jesus is simply unsatisfying.
Granted, I still encourage you to create the habits, establish the routines, set the boundaries, do all the things, but do them in the name of pursuing Christ’s character, not in the name of proving to yourself that you are no longer a perfectionist. Once more, “good enough” apart from God is just another manmade label that will leave us spiritually desolate when life leaves little room for our control.
We can set goals that are “good enough,” like having quiet time in the morning or exercising in the afternoon, but if the end goal isn’t to become more like Christ, “good enough” is a waste of time, just like perfection.
(I’ve found that in order to keep the main thing the main thing, I must look at any healthy rhythm or routine I’ve created and identify the character quality I wish to develop. Not the point I’m trying to prove.)
The Freedom in “Good Enough” Not Being Enough
Being “good enough” is rarely a sole pursuit of what’s holy, and you can’t pretty up holiness with a new planner or even your healthy reckoning with perfection. There’s nothing you can add to holiness because there’s nothing it lacks. There is holiness and unholiness, God’s presence or God’s absence, no shifting, manmade scales in between.
The pendulum for peace, joy, love, gentleness, patience, and salvation has never swung between perfection and being good enough. In fact, there is no pendulum. There is simply a sinner who recognizes their desperate need for Christ in all things, and a person who beats the air (1 Corinthians 9:26), curating a new idea of ditching one idea and clinging to another in hopes that their performance, even perfectly performing to the demands of a “good enough” routine, will satisfy their soul.
I don’t share these ideas to make you feel worthless or ashamed, or to convince you to throw away the healthy patterns you’ve established. By all means, continue to rebuke the idea of manmade perfection. Continue resting in the knowledge that Christ is our only perfection.
But recognize when your resting has morphed into obsessing over being okay with not being perfect. It’s never been about you becoming satisfied with the person you’ve made yourself to be. Rather, it’s always been about becoming satisfied with the person Christ is helping you become.
You will never reach a point of “good enough” at anything. There will always be ways you feel you could do better at being good. Trust me, I’ve chased that exhausting rabbit hole more times than I care to count.
So even if you’ve ditched perfection, I challenge you to recognize that its cousin Good Enough will certainly whisper for you to step it up a little more, to add just one more action step towards self-care and positivity, and she’ll leave you defeated, too.
The more you desperately search for Christ’s hand in all things, the more you’ll find that the only thing in this world that is truly good enough to steady the heart, mind, and soul is whispering, “God is good. God is sovereign. So God is enough.”
Surrender the rest to the One who will always be enough, and find rest, dear friend.
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:9-11 - NIV
Photo Credit: ©Unsplash/Nathan Dumlao
