Daily Power #189

“I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?” (Jer. 32:27)

There’s a lot of pressure to strive for perfection in our culture today. Whether you’re baking a birthday cake or earning a college degree, leading a meeting at work or teaching a Sunday school class, you want to get it right. You want to do your best, and if you’re honest with yourself, you want to impress those around you.

When you focus only on achieving such goals as a reflection of your identity and self-worth, then the pressure builds. You replay what you said in the meeting over and over again, thinking about what you should have said differently. You hide the sunken cake in the trash and pick up one from the grocery store. And as these various demands compete for your time, energy, and attention, the pressure builds and you begin to feel overwhelmed.

Obviously, God wants you to do your best—but so much of what we take on isn’t from him. Instead, it’s a list of what we want to do to prove to ourselves and others that we’re capable, talented, strong, smart, cool, and therefore worthy. But this is a house of cards waiting to fall whenever we don’t do it all perfectly, which means most of the time.

If life’s demands feel too hard for you, consider why you’re doing what you’re doing. Is it from God or from your own desire for personal validation?

Power Lift

Thank you, Lord, that today I don’t have to do it all. When life feels too hard for me, I can rest knowing that nothing is too hard for you.