This post is the story of my addiction …
And how it stands between my soul and God’s grace…
The family was coming over for Thanksgiving…
My job? To get the house ready.
No problem. A little vacuuming… maybe a little extra dusting…
An easy job, I thought.
It would have been easy…
Except for my addiction.
I succumbed to my addiction almost immediately…
Vacuuming the kitchen floor, I thought how much better it would look if I scrubbed it.
No problem. I’ll finish vacuuming and then scrub the floor.
Pushing the vacuum across the family room rug, I noticed a few spots…
Maybe I should clean the carpet.
What a good idea!
I’ll clean it right after I scrub the kitchen floor.
Moving on to the guest bathroom, I took a good look at the grout in the tile floor…
How long has it been since I cleaned and sealed the grout?
One more task added to my list.
Getting the house ready for our holiday guests had suddenly turned from easy to impossible.
All because of my addiction…
My addiction to perfection.
Not the perfection of God…
Not the perfection found through surrender to His gift of grace…
But the perfection which I foolishly think I can achieve through my own imperfect efforts.
I am addicted to the appearance of perfection.
God has taught me that anything to which I am addicted becomes an idol…
It stands between my soul and the love and grace of a holy, holy, holy God.
So here I am again, God, laying down my idols and my pretense for at least this moment…
Here I am again, awed by your love and your power…
Here I am again, with nothing to offer but my failings, my imperfections, my weaknesses…
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9
P.S. I never scrubbed the kitchen floor, cleaned the carpet or re-sealed the bathroom grout. Everybody had a good time, and our guests seemed to accept the house just as it was.
2 thoughts on “My Addiction”
Thanks for your honesty in sharing how easily we become distracted from God. All that really matters is that we keep our hearts pure and our minds cleared from the distractions. You and me know the only way is through Christ.
As you say “the only way is through Christ”, and thanks for His grace which picks us up when we fall.
Thanks for your comment.