Diligence Does Not Require Perfection
One time, former procrastinators, I baked a red velvet cake that fell apart in chunks. It was for Bible study that night. I made myself dump the cake in a bowl, and next to it I set a bowl of cream cheese frosting. “We’re having Red Velvet Crumble for dessert. Dollop your crumble with icing.” Everybody liked it.
Diligence is steady, earnest, and energetic effort, persevering application. Not flawless performance. Flawless means no room for improvement. Wow. Do we think righteousness comes through the law of “doing things perfectly”? Diligence does not require that burden. Neither does God. He provided perfection for us in Jesus.
“If I can’t do it perfectly, I don’t want to do it at all.” “I won’t start that job until I can do it perfectly.” “I can’t do it perfectly, so I’m not going to attempt it.”
Aiming for perfection causes delay. It also makes us put too much time on one thing when our efforts should be elsewhere. This twisted thinking keeps us and others from blessing.
Let’s aspire to excellence instead – “Unusually good.” The Latin root means “rising up.” I like that because we can do a job better than we did before. We can show up more often, apply more energy, take a healthier perspective, and rise up.
Sometimes rising up is just getting it done. Rejoice!
Done is better than perfect. I keep hearing the lady who told me that as I make these photo albums. Artistically, they aren’t what I’d like, but more important, they’re getting done.
You can’t flip a coin on any bed I’ve ever made. But I get instant gratification from a room that looks orderly with little effort, and at night we return to a peaceful retreat.
When scripture says be perfect it means mature, not flawless. Mature recognizes that done is better than perfect.
What will you get done this week that you’ve delayed because you wanted perfection?
