Sick of Perfection? Join the Club of Holy Hot Messes
Perfection? Yeah, we’re diving deep into that absurd concept today and honestly, it's about time we called it out for the hot mess it is. I’m Ashley, and let me tell you, trying to fit into the perfect Christian mold is like trying to shove a square peg in a round hole—it's exhausting and frankly, ridiculous. In this episode, we’re tackling how the church's obsession with perfection is a plague that just keeps on giving, leaving folks like me feeling judged and worn out. Spoiler alert: Jesus doesn’t want your accolades or your checklist; He just wants you to show up as your messy, imperfect self. So grab your coffee (or whatever), because we’re about to get real about why you don’t need to be perfect to share God’s love—trust me, it’s a lot more relatable than you think!
Perfection is a myth, and honestly, who even cares? In this episode, we dive into the exhausting game of trying to be the perfect Christian, which, spoiler alert, is totally impossible. Ashley opens up about her struggles with the ridiculous expectations placed on her, like how to dress or what to say, and let’s be real, it’s just exhausting. She’s done with the church’s obsession with perfection, where every minor flaw gets you a side-eye. She’s heard it all—stop church hopping, stop volunteering, and don’t even get her started on the critiques about her appearance. But she’s like, why is it that we can’t just be real? The Bible is full of stories about imperfect people doing amazing things, so why can’t we acknowledge our own imperfections while still trying to spread the good word? Ashley’s rant is relatable and full of sass, urging listeners to embrace their flaws instead of feeling ashamed. Let's ditch the fake perfection act and focus on the real stuff, shall we?
Takeaways:
- Trying to be a perfect Christian is totally exhausting and frankly, ridiculous.
- Perfection in the church is like a plague, and it’s driving me nuts, honestly.
- God doesn't care about how perfect you are; He just wants you, flaws and all.
- If the Bible is your guide, you'll see when folks are twisting it for their own gain.
- People like Abraham, Moses, and Paul were far from perfect, yet they were used by God.
- Stop stressing over perfection—just read your Bible and let God handle the rest.
Links referenced in this episode:
Transcript
Welcome back.
Speaker A:My name is Ashley, and this is the Black Sheep Christian Podcast.
Speaker A:Today's episode, I called perfection.
Speaker A:Perfection.
Speaker A:Perfection.
Speaker A:Makers of a black sheep.
Speaker A:So I struggle with perfection.
Speaker A:How to eat, dress, what to say to someone.
Speaker A:It's exhausting.
Speaker A:Imperfection in the church is a plague.
Speaker A:Don't say this, Ashley.
Speaker A:Don't do that, Ashley.
Speaker A:Whatever.
Speaker A:I was told to stop church hopping, stop volunteering at a church.
Speaker A:This is the message that is coming from Christians.
Speaker A:My appearance has been criticized many times.
Speaker A:And, oh, here's my favorite.
Speaker A:I don't honor my parents.
Speaker A:And that is a deeper story for another day because I'm getting worked up.
Speaker A:But how can I teach the Bible when I'm living in sin?
Speaker A:You know, I'm effing tired of trying to be this perfect Christian.
Speaker A:It's exhausting.
Speaker A:And it's like I like all of it's ridiculous that all these boxes have to be checked before I can even spread God's word.
Speaker A:I'm tired of people manipulating the Bible to bring me down to a level of shame and embarrassment.
Speaker A:What do I mean by manipulating?
Speaker A:You know, they say, oh, God loves you.
Speaker A:He has a plan for you.
Speaker A:Come as you are, and then beat me with what I'm doing wrong.
Speaker A:We both know that you lied, cheat, cheated, and stole too.
Speaker A:But why am I the one getting slapped all the time?
Speaker A:It's bs.
Speaker A:Jesus knows it's bs.
Speaker A:And God knows it's crazy too, which is why it's important for you to read your Bible.
Speaker A:I say read your Bible to know when someone's twisting their words for their gain.
Speaker A:Stand up.
Speaker A:Use God's word.
Speaker A:You might be surprised on how they react to you.
Speaker A:But before I go into the verse of the week, I'm going to name a few people, which are Abraham, Moses, Paul, David, and Peter.
Speaker A:And this is to name a few Scripture.
Speaker A:The Bible has many men and women who are cheaters, liars, murderers, but yet God uses them.
Speaker A:For example, Paul wrote a significant portion of the New Testament.
Speaker A:Some scholars believe he wrote more than 50% of the new Testament.
Speaker A:Moses frees God's people from slavery.
Speaker A:David conquers.
Speaker A:We wouldn't have David and Goliath.
Speaker A:We wouldn't have that story.
Speaker A:And Paul.
Speaker A:I'm sorry, Peter is a significant part in starting the Christian church.
Speaker A:And Abraham begins the family line.
Speaker A:For us to have Jesus, so perfection does not get you to heaven, we need to remember that your love and respect for the Lord do.
Speaker A:So this week, I chose.
Speaker A:There's three of them.
Speaker A:Matthew 19, verse 19, from 16 to 30 Mark, verse 10 and that's from 17 to 31.
Speaker A:We have Luke 18, from 18 to 30.
Speaker A:And they are all the same, but they're written by different people.
Speaker A:The reason why I chose this is for this very example.
Speaker A:Perfection does not get you to heaven.
Speaker A:Mark, Matthew and Luke all are in the same place at the same time, but they write this encounter differently.
Speaker A:I personally, I'm just talking about me personally, I like Matthew.
Speaker A:Matthew was a tax collector.
Speaker A:And at that time, tax collector collectors were hated people.
Speaker A:I mean, it's obvious.
Speaker A:I mean, he's a tax collector who wants to pay taxes.
Speaker A:But Jesus and God uses Matthew.
Speaker A:Matthew out of Mark, Luke and John, Matthew is the biggest one.
Speaker A:He writes so much detail.
Speaker A:Think about it.
Speaker A:He was a tax collector.
Speaker A:He was hated by his own community, but yet he is used to help write the Bible.
Speaker A:And what he puts in it is so much.
Speaker A:It's so valuable to you and I today.
Speaker A:So Matthew, Mark and Luke, they talk about an encounter that is called the rich young man.
Speaker A:Now, depending upon which language I guess you can call that you use, whether it's King James, amplified English, Christian, Sander, there's so many, they call it differently, but the just of it is the rich young man.
Speaker A:And this encounter is a meeting between Jesus and his disciples.
Speaker A:They're out and about, they're doing what they always do.
Speaker A:And a young rich man comes and approaches them and he asks Jesus what he can do to gain internal life.
Speaker A:Now as a man in perfection, he says that he has done everything right and everything that he was supposed to do.
Speaker A:And to me, he seems like he's needing more.
Speaker A:He needs more boxes to check, you know, he needs more accolades, you know, to boast about.
Speaker A:And Jesus answers him by telling him to sell all his things to the poor because he's a rich young man.
Speaker A:I bet you he's probably beautiful, but I'm getting off topic.
Speaker A:But he tells him to sell all his things to the poor.
Speaker A:By doing this, he will have treasure in heaven and to come and follow Jesus.
Speaker A:And the rich young man ends the encounter disappointed and walks away.
Speaker A:He doesn't say anything.
Speaker A:He doesn't fight.
Speaker A:He doesn't argue.
Speaker A:I think that's a better word, argue.
Speaker A:He doesn't argue.
Speaker A:He walks away.
Speaker A:And if I was one of those.
Speaker A:And Jesus proceeds to talking to his disciples, going on by continuing the conversation with his group, by talking about how difficult it is for a rich young person to be saved.
Speaker A:But that's a conversation for another day.
Speaker A:Wealth is a conversation another day because that is an issue in itself.
Speaker A:But what I'm concentrating here today is.
Speaker A:Here is a person who was perfect looking for more.
Speaker A:And God, Jesus says, sell your stuff and follow me.
Speaker A:And that's not enough.
Speaker A:God does not seek perfection.
Speaker A:He does not care how much money you have or how much you accomplish.
Speaker A:If you accomplished anything, that is a manipulation in itself.
Speaker A:In the church, how people dress, there's some perfect.
Speaker A:They put on all these things.
Speaker A:Even if you have things, they drive these cars.
Speaker A:They say, I have went to Africa and saved all these people.
Speaker A:God does not.
Speaker A:That is.
Speaker A:That.
Speaker A:That is wonderful.
Speaker A:But that's not what he's looking for, okay?
Speaker A:He just wants you.
Speaker A:If you are trying to learn God's word, He just wants you.
Speaker A:Everything else will fall into place.
Speaker A:He will give you the words to say.
Speaker A:He will show you how many.
Speaker A:He will show you how to act.
Speaker A:He will show you how to approach people.
Speaker A:Your achievements are nothing to him.
Speaker A:Because God's goal is to reach as many people as possible.
Speaker A:If you have tattoos, guess what.
Speaker A:He needs you.
Speaker A:You have crazy hairdo.
Speaker A:Guess what.
Speaker A:He needs you too.
Speaker A:Done drugs.
Speaker A:Guess what?
Speaker A:He needs you too.
Speaker A:Why?
Speaker A:Because Mr.
Speaker A:Beaver, if you.
Speaker A:If you know Mr.
Speaker A:Beaver, it was a show back in the day, black and white show of a perfect family.
Speaker A:And you know they'll have their little problem and everything is solved at the end of the day.
Speaker A:So it.
Speaker A:I'm using Mr.
Speaker A:Beaver as an example of perfection.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:Mr.
Speaker A:Beaver cannot talk to the person with tattoos.
Speaker A:He cannot talk to the person with crazy hairdo.
Speaker A:And he especially cannot talk to the person who is or was on drugs.
Speaker A:The person with a tattoo.
Speaker A:He needs you.
Speaker A:Why?
Speaker A:Because you can talk to other people with tattoos.
Speaker A:You guys know what that means?
Speaker A:To have ink on your body?
Speaker A:You know, thrill.
Speaker A:The art of it, the beauty of it, the history of it.
Speaker A:Guess what?
Speaker A:He needs you.
Speaker A:Crazy hairdo.
Speaker A:Braids, cornrows.
Speaker A:Color your hair all the time.
Speaker A:He needs you too, because he knows that you can talk to and relate to people like you.
Speaker A:Person on drugs.
Speaker A:He definitely needs you.
Speaker A:Because you know what it means to have a fix.
Speaker A:You know what it means to kiss death.
Speaker A:He know you know what that means.
Speaker A:You can reach to people.
Speaker A:You can talk to people in your.
Speaker A:Who are in the same position.
Speaker A:Similar position was in the position that you are or was into.
Speaker A:He needs you.
Speaker A:Mr.
Speaker A:Beaver cannot relate to that.
Speaker A:They don't know what that means.
Speaker A:They don't know what a fix feels like.
Speaker A:They don't know what an urge means.
Speaker A:But you do.
Speaker A:You know what it means to struggle.
Speaker A:You're tough.
Speaker A:Nothing can't stop you.
Speaker A:You almost kissed death.
Speaker A:So nothing means to you at this point.
Speaker A:What?
Speaker A:What?
Speaker A:You threatening me?
Speaker A:I nearly kissed death.
Speaker A:Forget you.
Speaker A:I'm gonna reach God's.
Speaker A:I'm going to pivot here before I close.
Speaker A:As another example, I remember a guy.
Speaker A:We were in the same Bible class, similar age, young white guy.
Speaker A:I mean, I was young too.
Speaker A:So it really doesn't make a difference what he looked like or who he was at this point.
Speaker A:But anyways, we're in the same Bible class and we were kind of in and out of it.
Speaker A:It was a nice Bible class.
Speaker A:I really have nothing against it.
Speaker A:It was a suburban church, you know, it was nice, it was clean, you know, nice little cafe bar, just like any other suburban church.
Speaker A:But I left the Bible class and he did too.
Speaker A:And, and, and I.
Speaker A:It's a nice church.
Speaker A:I occasionally go there from time to time because others that I know still go there.
Speaker A:So we got to talking when we saw each other and he proceeded to tell me why he left.
Speaker A:And he said, because they have suburban problems.
Speaker A:That's why he left.
Speaker A:Now that was an aha moment because when he said that to me, I figured out what I was struggling with too, with that church.
Speaker A:I'm not saying why everybody's problem is not valid.
Speaker A:It's not real.
Speaker A:What those people went through was real to them and it was valid.
Speaker A:But at the same token, there are people in a, in the same community across the highway that are struggling.
Speaker A:They're struggling putting food on the table, they're struggling with.
Speaker A:I mean, there's an opioid addiction that is happening.
Speaker A:I mean, there are people who are trying to survive.
Speaker A:And here us who are living comfortably are talking about the problems that we have.
Speaker A:I'm not saying that the problems that they're going through is not valid, but there are people out there who are trying to survive.
Speaker A:And we're not getting to them, we're not reaching them.
Speaker A:God wants you today.
Speaker A:Allow him to teach you.
Speaker A:Allow him to teach you his ways.
Speaker A:There is nothing better than the Source himself, which is God.
Speaker A:So I'm going to end this by telling you to read your Bible.
Speaker A:It's okay that you're not perfect.
Speaker A:You're not going to be perfect.
Speaker A:But what's not okay is for you to stop learning God, stop knowing who he is.
Speaker A:That's not okay.
Speaker A:My name is Ashley, and please read your Bible.
Speaker A:And until we meet again, God bless.
