Hey, Forever GodGirl, I'm your host, Iz, and
welcome or welcome back to the Forever GodGirl
podcast. In today's episode, we are going to
be talking all about perfectionism and legalism.
So let me give you the definition for both perfectionism
and legalism. Perfectionism is the refusal to
accept any standard short of perfection. And
legalism is a man -made standard of perfection
that leads us into thinking our salvation can
be earned. And the Bible contradicts the very
idea of legalism and perfectionism many times.
In fact, in Galatians 2 verse 16 it says, Yet
we know that a person is made right with God
by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the
law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus so
that we might be made right with God because
of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed
the law. For no one will ever be made right with
God by obeying the law. So this scripture is
telling us that there can be people who believe
in Jesus, accept him and follow him. but are
still under the impression and oppression that
they gain and earn their salvation by what they
do. And this is, again, legalism giving us the
man -made standard of perfection. Which, two
things. One, you can't earn your salvation because
it is a gift to be received, not a prize to be
won. And scripture backs that up in Ephesians
2, verse 8, which says, For grace you have been
saved through faith, and this is not your own
doing. It is a gift of God. And this scripture
also tells us that no matter how perfect we try
to be, we could never earn our salvation because
salvation comes from Jesus Christ alone. And
two, you can't lose your salvation. Once saved,
always saved. The Bible literally says in Ephesians
chapter 4 verse 30 that we are sealed for the
day of redemption. And scripture backs that up
again in Romans chapter 11 verse 29. And it says,
and the calling of God are irrevocable. And the
word irrevocable means it can't be voided or
turned back. God won't just up and change his
mind. For example, in John 10, verses 28 through
29. jesus says i give them eternal life and they
shall never perish neither shall anyone snatch
them out of my hand my father who has given them
to me is greater than all and no one is able
to snatch them out of my father's hand once we're
saved we can't lose our salvation because our
names are written in the book of life with permanent
ink so now that we've talked about legalism i
want to talk about perfectionism because it's
part of today's topic and i want to show you
how legalism and perfectionism are intertwined.
And to start off, I want to read 2 Timothy 2,
verse 15, which says, Study and do your best
to present yourself to God approved, a workman
tested by trial, who has no reason to be ashamed,
accurately handling and skillfully teaching the
word of truth. Now, I have struggled with perfectionism
for a really long time, and whether I understood
it or not, I actually created a legalistic standard
of perfectionism over myself. And when I've let
it take control of me, it can become really,
really crippling. And when it's crippling, I
start procrastinating, which is also really bad,
but it's a fruit of perfectionism and legalism.
So I'm going to do a little story time real quickly
to tell you the origin of how I even found 2
Timothy chapter 2 verse 15 and how it relates
to perfectionism in my life. Around two years
ago, I had a really big exam in school for math.
I think it was a midterm and a midterm basically
determines 50 % of your grade. So I was nervous,
especially because I felt like I hadn't really
grasped all the things I was supposed to have
learned. But even after I had vigorously studied,
I couldn't shake the feeling of fear, fear of
failure. All I wanted to do was procrastinate,
sit, watch some TV shows, and eat some chips.
And my mom brought 2 Timothy 2 .15 to my attention,
and this scripture spoke to me. It made me realize
that as long as I know I've studied, been diligent
with my time, and presented it before God and
asked for His help, i have nothing to fear no
i don't need to be perfect and no i don't need
to fear that i'm gonna fail because jesus is
with me and the simple truth is that we are not
gonna be perfect at everything so even on that
exam No, I did not get a perfect 100%, but the
Lord did help me to get a good score. And that
was because I wasn't trying to take everything
in my own hands and make it perfect by my own
will or by my own legalistic standards. I put
it in Jesus' hands because Jesus is the one who's
perfect. Jesus knows that we aren't perfect.
He wants to perfect our faith. So no, we don't
have to act like we're perfect in our walk with
Jesus, nor do we have to follow a specific set
of man -made rules. And we don't have to worry
about making ourselves look perfect or making
our situations perfect. Because when we perfect
everything else on the outside, but neglect the
inside, our hearts will be far from him. That's
what we don't want. So next time you're tempted
to walk in legalism and to act in perfectionism,
remember Romans chapter 3 verse 27. And it's...
says by what kind of law by the law of works
no but by the law of faith now it's time for
our special segment And in today's special segment,
you guessed it, movies and TV shows, I'm going
to share with you another one of my favorite
Christian TV shows. Now, last time I chose The
Chosen, no pun intended. But this time I'm going
to put you on to one of my favorite Christian
movies, The Forge. And it's all about this young
guy who doesn't know the value of his faith.
prayer, and work. It is a phenomenal movie. Go
watch it. That's all I gotta say. That was such
a great special segment, but now it's time to
talk about something more exciting and more important,
salvation. Here's a word from Zai. So, if you
have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ,
then this message will help you. But, if you
don't have a personal relationship with Jesus
Christ, I invite you to give your heart to the
Lord today. to receive him into your heart. Go
to Romans 10, 9 -10. It says, If you said this
prayer with sincerity, you are saved and now
have eternal life with Jesus. You are saved from
all your sins, past, present, and future sins
you may commit. This truth is not a free pass
to sin anytime. Instead, Jesus gives you power
over all wrong choices and empowers you to spread
the gospel to others. You are saved forever.
And your name is written in the book of life.
Did you just give your life to Jesus? Because
if you did, give yourself a pat on the back.
I am so godly proud of you. Thank you so much
for listening to this podcast episode. I trust
that it helped you and that you learned something.
And remember, Jesus doesn't need us to be perfect
people. He simply wants us to trust his perfect
plan. Hey, Forever God Girl, did you like this
episode? If so, please follow us, rate us five
stars on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and anywhere
you listen to podcasts. And visit us on our website
at forevergodgirl .com. That's how you help us
spread the good news. See you next time. Bye.