How to overcome spiritual perfectionism

Stop trying to be perfect for God, you can't be and God doesn't require you to be!

God is not look for the perfection of your life, He's looking at the position of Jesus, in your life! It's ti

me to stop punishing yourself with the pursuit of spiritual perfection and start enjoying the position Jesus's love has provided you!

Watch now on youtube at iamthepossible.

Se7 | Ep143  | the iamthepossible podcast

Summary

In this episode, Treveal C.W. Lynch discusses the concept of overcoming spiritual perfectionism. He defines perfectionism as the belief that nothing one does is ever good enough, which becomes a burden and affects various areas of life.

Treveal shares his personal experience with perfectionism in his spiritual journey and emphasizes that God loves and accepts us with all our flaws.

He highlights the importance of focusing on the position of Christ within us rather than striving for perfection.

The episode concludes with a call to surrender areas of life to God and embrace the truth that we are good enough.

Takeaways

Perfectionism is the belief that nothing one does is ever good enough and becomes a burden.

God loves and accepts us with all our flaws and failures.

Focusing on the position of Christ within us is more important than striving for perfection.

Surrendering areas of life to God and embracing the truth that we are good enough leads to freedom.

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Transcript

Treveal C.W. Lynch (00:00.499)
Hey, hey, hey, what it is, what it be, what it do. You guys know what it is. You guys know where you is. Yes. Once again, this is the place. That's right. You're here. The place where possibilities become perspective guys. Welcome once again into the I am the possible universe. More specifically, the I am the possible podcast experience.

Season number seven. Thank you guys so much for rocking with me once again. Thank you so much for every email, for every download, for every share, for every comment, for every question. Thank you so, so much because you are the reason I do what I do. I just want to honor you and thank you so much for rocking with me once again. Today, guys, I am so excited about sharing something that I've wrestled with for years. I've struggled with for years.

And I know that many times the things that we wrestle with and struggle with other people are wrestling with and struggling with. And so today we're going to talk about what I call overcoming spiritual perfectionism, overcoming spiritual perfectionism. Okay. may sound real, you know, technical or, you know, big at the listen.

at the end of the day, perfectionism, right? At least the definition that I've come to develop to really understand perfectionism and then how we can apply it to our spiritual life is perfectionism or being a perfectionist is what I call the internal burden that's been inspired by the belief that nothing I'm doing

or have done is ever good enough. Whatever I'm doing or whatever I've done, it's not good enough. And that becomes a burden because that's a belief. That belief is burdening you. It's becoming a weight on your shoulders, a burden on your back. And for some of us, we are ready to break. We're ready to just throw in the towel because it's starting to

Treveal C.W. Lynch (02:30.141)
invade every area of our lives. Our marriages, our relationships on the job, our church involvement, and that was a big one for me. But you name it, you frame it. If you're dealing with this and struggling with this, then today's episode is for you. It's this idea that nothing I do is ever good enough.

I'm always trying to one up my last thing or I'm trying to improve because I can never just accept anything I've done. I can never accept anything I've put out there. I can never accept anything that I've produced. I can never accept anything that has my name on it. It has to be better. It can't possibly be enough. It can't possibly be acceptable. And I won't go into all the many ways that this has developed, but I can tell you at least for me, and maybe that's

the truth for you as well. A lot of it is developed in our early childhood. It's developed, you know, when we were younger, in those formative years, when we were a little sponge trying to soak up the information, trying to find our way, to create and craft an identity before we knew what we were doing. We were trying to find ourselves in this big world of do's and don'ts, yes's and no's, rights and wrongs.

and we put something out there and someone rejected it. Someone maybe made fun of it. Someone maybe laughed at it and picked on you about it. I know that I grew up my entire life being bullied, being pushed to the side, being overlooked, not being considered, not fitting in, always the outcast, always the misfit, last one to be picked if picked at all. That was my story because I was overweight, because I stuttered.

because my mother was on drugs, because my father wasn't there in the home. That was my story. You are not good enough because of the way you are, because of how you are, because of your flaws. And so we build this idea and this identity about ourselves that who I am in and of myself, I'm ashamed of. I'm not good enough as I am. I'm not acceptable as I am. Therefore, I must do something.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (04:55.551)
really good, even great. I must be phenomenal at something so that I can find a sense of not only self -awareness, but I can gain a sense of acceptance by and through the relationships that I am able to hold on to. Hey mom, look what I did. Is this good enough? Hey babe, write your spouse. Hey babe, is this good enough?

I know for me, right, being a father of four children, you do something for your child and you sit back, right? And you'd observe their reaction, their response. And what you're saying to yourself internally is, is this good enough? Did they laugh enough? Did they smile enough? Did they thank you enough? Is anything ever good enough? And this perfectionism can come into our spiritual walk.

And maybe you have experienced this. I know I've experienced this. And I just want to share a few things out of the Bible today to just help frame the fact that number one, God loves you, accepts you, appreciates you, acknowledges you with all of your flaws and failures because he didn't send Jesus because you were perfect. He sent Jesus because Jesus was perfect, because Christ

was perfect and he would be the perfection for you. And so I just want to really meet you guys where you are if you struggle in this area, in the area specifically of your spiritual life. I came to the Lord in, I want to say 1999. I have to go back and really piecemeal it. To be honest, I was smoking so much weed, doing so much drugs and I was just into so much, so much trauma happened.

You know, and I won't go deep into this, but sometimes the mind will protect us. And so sometimes the mind will push and suppress some things down so that you really can't recall the details of a given situation or circumstance. And I know for myself, it's been a blur those first couple of years of getting saved and being saved. So a lot of times guys, just to be honest with you, I don't remember all the great details, but I do know that it was around that time.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (07:15.051)
around 1999, 2000, because we came out here in Southern California in 2001. So I know that it had been about a year and a half, maybe two years since being saved. But after I got saved and I started coming to church, serving in the church, I started to see now that I reflect, I didn't see it then, but now as I reflect, I noticed how I would.

become this first person in, last person to leave type guy. I loved hearing people say to me, you're so faithful. That was a trigger for me, a positive trigger. It fed my ego, it fed my desire for acceptance, for appreciation, for someone to be aware of me, for that acknowledgement, for that validation. And so I would

just go above and beyond. Sometimes sacrificing time with my wife, with my children. I would suppress a lot of things. I would say yes to everything. I was the yes man. And my pastors maybe really didn't pick up on it or see it or notice it. But everyone deemed it faithful. You're so faithful. And the truth was I was just trying to gain a sense of myself and wanting to feel like I was enough.

And so this thing called ministry and serving in ministry became a way for me to get that positive feedback, those feedback loops, right? That positive feedback so that I could feel better about myself. And that perfectionism was right there at the center. You're never good enough, so do more. You're never good enough, so be more. Serve more, be more faithful. And I find that to be...

so true for so many other people. And so I just wanted to create this episode today to meet you where you are. I want to read a scripture that I was meditating in this morning that I found really interesting. And I'm not reading it in context to say this is exactly what it's saying. I'm saying I was inspired by it. And it is implicable or applicable to what I'm sharing right now. In the book of John chapter one, verse 17, it says,

Treveal C.W. Lynch (09:39.883)
that the law was given through Moses, but God's unfailing love and grace came through Jesus. The law, I found it interesting, the law, and this is talking about the Mosaic law, the law according to Moses. This sums up about, or this is comprised of not just the 10 commandments, but of over 600 laws.

that you have to keep up in order to fulfill the law of God. 600. And Jesus came to simplify our Christianity. He came to streamline our Christianity. He said, listen, I am the fulfillment of the law. I've come not to do away with it, but I am here to fulfill it. He says, love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and strength, and then love your neighbor.

I like to challenge you with something. Which is easier to attempt? Which is easier to uphold? Which is easier to maintain?

600 laws or two? Is it easier to maintain on a daily basis the fulfillment of 600 things or just two? Even if you just took the 10 commandments, 10 versus two, which is easier to uphold, which is easier to attempt, which is easier to focus on, to maintain? See, in God's kingdom,

It's not about perfection. It's about position. The position, not even of you and I, but the position of Christ within us. Jesus is at the center of our lives, the throne of our lives. Jesus is in our hearts. He said, hey, I will come and make a home with you. I will dwell with you. I will sup with you. I will commune with you. I will live in you and through you and depending on what you believe, even

Treveal C.W. Lynch (11:51.887)
as you. Jesus is saying it's not about you and your perfection. It's about me and my position at the right hand of the Father and within your very heart. So to you, my perfectionist, my brother, my sister, today I just wanted to encourage you that if you find yourself like me, always trying to be perfect, always trying to live up to some lofty standard that you set for yourself,

that by the way, no one else is setting for you, it's yours. Because of what's happened in the past, I want to encourage you to be free, to release that burden, to set yourself free because Jesus himself says, Moses, a man, gave you all these laws and stipulations. I, the Christ, the Messiah, I've come to tell you just love me and love your neighbor.

I remember in Matthew where Jesus says, to me all who are weary, heavy laden, burdened, carrying this perfectionism, this religious law, trying to keep up with the laws, trying to do everything right, dot every I cross every T. You come to me, because I know you are wore out emotionally. You're stressed out of your mind. You're pulling your hair out. You're about to have a heart attack, a stroke. You are doing damage to yourself.

spiritually, emotionally, physically, psychologically, come to me and I'll give you rest. My burden is easy. My yoke is easy. My burden is light. That's the Christ, baby. So today, understand it's not about your perfection. It's about Christ's position. And he's already taken a seat on the throne of your heart. So he's in position.

You are good. You've been good enough. You are good enough. You will always be good enough for the one that matters most.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (14:02.763)
Christ, Holy Spirit, God says you're good enough. Even Genesis 1 .31, Jesus, God, Spirit looked over everything, including you, and said, this I validate, this I deem good.

enough. So in your own way today, I just want you to take time to pray and to ask God, what areas of your life have you not acknowledged that Jesus is in position and simply surrender that area to God, confess to God, give it to God.

hand it over to God, submit it to God by acknowledging that the position of Christ within you has already made you good enough. I'm good enough, you're good enough, we are good enough.

And if we're good enough for God, then we might as well be good enough for ourselves. And if we're not good enough for others, well...

too bad for them because you're something very, very special, very, very precious. Guys, that is it for today. I just wanted to encourage you. I just wanted to drop that on you. I just wanted to meet you where you are. I just wanted you to know that I understand. Just wanted you to know that I feel you and that we're journeying this thing together. Let's overcome our

Treveal C.W. Lynch (15:53.94)
spiritual perfectionism.

The law, that's man. The love, that's the Messiah. Choose the Messiah's love and you will fulfill Moses' law. Hope and pray that this has made sense. I love you guys and praying for you guys. I believe in you guys. Until next time, remember God loves you.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (16:24.821)
be encouraged.