“If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done.” Ecclesiastes 11:4 (TLB)

When you learn how to relax in God’s liberating grace and break out of the prison of perfectionism, you will find a new level of joy and freedom in your life. Why? Because perfectionism is destructive to your life in several ways.

1. It defeats your initiative. Have you ever had a project that’s been a struggle to get started? You think, “One of these days I’m going to get around to it,” but you just can’t take that first step. One possible reason is perfectionism. You’re waiting for the perfect circumstance or timing, or you’re waiting until the kids get out of school or a certain amount of money comes in. When you set your standards so high, perfectionism causes paralysis, and you can’t get anything done.

The Bible says in the Living Bible paraphrase, “If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done” (Ecclesiastes 11:4).

2. It damages your relationships. Nobody likes being nagged or corrected all the time. It’s frustrating and irritating! The Bible says, “Love forgets mistakes; nagging about them parts the best of friends” (Proverbs 17:9 TLB).

Perfectionism—the desire to always be correct or correct others—damages relationships because it’s rooted in insecurity. Perfectionists who are harsh and demanding toward other people are harsh and demanding toward themselves.

3. It destroys your happiness. Ecclesiastes 7:16 says, “Don’t be too virtuous, and don’t be too wise. Why make yourself miserable?” (GW). This Scripture isn’t talking about genuine righteousness or real wisdom. It’s talking about perfectionism. You can transform any virtue into a vice by taking it to the extreme.

Your worst nag lives under your skin, because you are your own worst critic. (That’s true for all of us!) Since we tend to resent and even dislike people who nag us, if you’re always nagging yourself, what does that say about you? It says that you don’t like yourself. You think you’re not good enough. And you think reminding yourself what’s wrong with you is going to motivate you into doing the right thing. It’s not! That’s called perfectionism, and it causes you to constantly put yourself down. 

There’s just one antidote to perfectionism—and it’s not in a self-help book or a doctor’s office. You can only learn to relax when you fully experience the liberating grace of God and rest in the sufficiency of the only one who is perfect.