Will You Pursue Perfection or Purpose?

When you are pursuing a major goal and your intentions are of the highest good, life’s lemons start to fall. You may interpret this as a sign that you should postpone your goal, or even reconsider it altogether, because if things were meant to be, the lemons wouldn’t be falling in the first place. However, this is the time to continue striving toward your future!

Here are 4 key insights to achieving a goal under imperfect conditions:

1. Don’t let your pursuit of perfection trump your pursuit of purpose. Don’t wait for the circumstances in your life to become perfect before you pursue your life’s work. While your conditions will always change, God’s word remains constant. Continue to stand on His promises and march forward. When that little doubting voice starts to whisper in your ear, hear this scripture in your other ear, “I can do all this through Him who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13 (NIV)
2. A goal achieved under imperfect conditions underscores the character and the tenacity of the achiever. There are two types of events that can happen to you: the ones you cause to happen, and those that happen to you. In the latter, it feels like no sooner do you find a way to recover from being hit by one lemon, another hits you. It is that familiar feeling of taking one step forward and two steps back. When this happens to you, recall what the apostle Paul teaches in 2 Corinthians 12:8-9 (NLT), “Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, ‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness…’”
3. Trials come to strengthen you, and to teach endurance. You may ultimately fear going through the storms of life, as the natural inclination is to ask God to remove the storm. When He doesn’t remove it, you may try dealing with matters from multiple angles on your own until you finally reach a place of surrender. This is exactly where God wants you to be. While He has the power to calm both you and the storm, He is much more invested in your transformation. The apostle Paul is a perfect example of how one should embrace trials. Remember, he wrote letters of joy and peace from a prison cell. Specifically, he teaches us in Romans 5:3 (NLT) that, “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.”
4. Don’t let your life’s lemons become your life’s excuses. Avoid using imperfect life circumstances as excuses to not fulfill your life’s potential. In other words, the chaos in your life is serving a purpose as it is keeping you away from what you fear most–failure.

This Lenten season, turn your blues to blessings by choosing to stay committed to your life’s work, even when the process gets messy.

“These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold–though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.” 1 Peter 1:7 (NLT)

Share with 5 others who may also desire to “give up” perfection and pursue their life’s purpose this Lenten season.

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