The Perfection Syndrome
“For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.” Romans 8:6 NASB
Life – Life is a paradox. In this verse, Paul presents us with one of the most paradoxical truths of existence. What seems like “life” to those whose worldview is determined by the best the world has to offer is in reality only death. Real life is found only in life with God. We know this. After all, we are believers. But far too often knowing isn’t quite enough. Something else is needed. Heschel puts it like this: “The problem was not whether to trust God but whether to trust one’s acceptance of God.”[1]
But I would slightly alter this insight.
“The problem was not whether to trust God but whether to trust one’s acceptance by God.”
It seems to me that believers are particularly prone to self-incrimination. As a result, they have a hard time experiencing life for they fear that they are unworthy of God’s goodness. Perhaps it helps to realize that the Greek word is zoe, the root of zoology. It covers the entire range of all living things. In particular, this word is used to describe life with God, a life that is characterized by moral purity, spiritual purpose and divine blessing. We probably struggle with the perfection syndrome concerning moral purity and spiritual purpose. We know we don’t meet the ultimate standard. But why should that prevent us from experiencing life. Life isn’t perfect. It just is. And it’s everywhere. All around us God is showering us with blessing. We are enveloped in His zoology. Perfection is not the living standard. Celebration is!
Paul forcefully reminds us that the word that describes everything living is related to Spirit, not to this world. Here is the irony of the gospel. The more I grasp from this life, the less life I have. The more I struggle for the best the world has to offer, the less my life has real value. Real life, the life given by God, is opposed to all the patterns of this world. It will never be found in the latest toys, the biggest bank account, the greatest possession or the most prestige. What everyone wants—life and peace—is not available in the marketplace. I’m sorry, but it just can’t be purchased, earned or collected. The great irony is that no matter where I look in the world, I will not find it for sale. What I want most is life and peace, and those are exactly the things that I cannot go out and get. They are gifts, given to me only by God and only in intimate relationship with Him.
If I am “minding” the Spirit, I do not need to collect life and peace. They are the automatic and natural results of a worldview that has God at the center. What I thought I needed turned out to be useless. What I found I inherited when I started “minding” the Spirit turned out to be all that I wanted.
Topical Index: life, zoe, trust, celebration, Romans 8:6
[1] Abraham Heschel, A Passion for Truth, p. 94.
Hello Skip. Just wondering what “minding the Spirit” is.
What is the meaning of “flesh”. Can it be interpreted as “animal instinct”?
Thanks
Leviticus 17:11 the life of the creature is in the blood. Those who lay their life down in this life will pick it up again in the end. True Living Sacrifice. There are many good proclamations to help us win the fight of faith which is the good fight!!!
“animal instinct” actually insults animals. They don’t act with ill-will.
I apologise for my question.
Pieter,
What is fleshly lust if it is not part of our animal nature… 1John 2:15-17
Real life, the life given by God is opposed to all the patterns of this world. What I want most is life and peace, and those are exactly the things I cannot go out and get. They are gifts, given to me only by God and only in an intimate relationship with Him Amen!! Need this.
Romans 15:6. Romans 4:3 Galatians 3 6 along with other scriptures tell us that boat leaving what God has said and acting upon it that is righteousness in God’s eyes. When I was just a kid the youngest of four and the only boy my sisters gave me a t-shirt that should one fish going against the school of all the others. So my life goes. The others I walk with are in great company.
The flesh (yetzer ha’ra) wants to live. Desperately. (And that is not wrong; it is simply inadequate.) That instinctual desperation FEELS most important, and so we instinctively listen to it first. Our prayers to God are based then on asking for what the flesh thinks it has to have to survive and are limited by what we have left over in time, attention and gratitude to give Him AFTER we have sacrificed the rest to the god of our own reference point.
‘Hitting bottom’ is a description of where we end up after feeding the monster of self in the pursuit of what felt like life, and coming up completely empty, exhausted, dying and miserable. Our own concept of righteousness; our own method of survival; our own expectations of ourselves, others, and, yes, God, too – post-Tree, we have to experience it to believe it – that utter lack of peace at the end of all our own best efforts. No one can tell anyone, not even themselves, how to avoid checking this one out. We are all lost, but the problem is becoming convinced that we are!
That desperation at that fundamental level of feeling like we are dying, but also feeling that we are the ones that must do something about it (for we all start out without the ability to trust at the level it takes to let go and let God) is insurmountable in the flesh. It drives us all, and if we drive it underground by telling ourselves that we have handed it over to God and can take it from here with good works, it just operates underground instead. Seeing is believing, but it is our own bottoms that we all seem to have to see to believe that salvation truly HAS to come from beyond ourselves.
I have yet to meet a person who has found peace (which is only found by following the leading of the Spirit instead of our own take on reality) this side of that disaster, and it is because we lack the ability to believe that we are that bad off, but also that God can be trusted(referenced first) at that level. If and until we get there, all the trust we can muster is going to be spent on the flesh; on self – for we all start out with only the ability to expend trust on ourselves. Trusting God? Not possible, only if and until we learn why we cannot trust anything or anyone else, including our own instincts to survive. Salvation, y’all, is a tough sell!
Or as Yeshua phrased it Himself
John 16:23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
So very true. Just this morning I posted a link on Facebook to a video of our worship team leading us in “Pieces” by Bethel Music As I said to my friends, I wish I had grasped the truth of the opening lyrics when I was much younger.
Unreserved, unrestrained
Your love is wild
Your love is wild for me
It isn’t shy, it’s unashamed
Your love is proud
To be seen with me
I grew up in church. But it was many years before I learned that Jesus didn’t just die to take away my sin. He also took away my shame.
Hosanna! Save us, Yeshua! Give us victory over the limits we attempt to place on Grace!