Romans 1-4: Perfection

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
  But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference,  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,  and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.- Romans 2:19-24 NIV

I tend to be a perfectionist, or at least I used to.  I was not perfect, I knew it, but I didn't want anyone else to know that I made mistakes. What a miserable position I found myself in..  Each mistake I made would lead me to the same dilemma:  Do I confess that I have made a mistake, or do I hide it as if it never existed.  Both prospects left me with a sinking feeling. 

I finally learned not to expect too much of myself, that I was incapable of perfection and that confession was good for the soul.  In fact, it was the lack of confession that always ended up festering inside of me. 

It's the same way with sin.  All have sinned.  All of mankind, and no matter what we may think about others, whether it seems like they are sinless or desensitized to their sin, they suffer the same internal consequence that we do when we sin.  It festers and eats them up; imperfection does that.  But as Paul says, there is a remedy.  We are set free by the grace of God and the redemption that came by Jesus.  We are set free from that horrible recognition that we do not measure up.  None of us can ever measure up, but we can all be set free.

2010 Post - Romans 1-4:  Sin and Righteousness