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Can you be perfect? Can any of us? I’m quite certain we all would agree that nobody’s perfect!
And yet there are many passages in scripture that tell us to be holy and blameless. Peter said we should be holy in all we do; for it is written, “Be holy because I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16b). Now, if you’ve ever considered these passages at all, have you ever as a Christian taken them seriously? Isn’t it true that most of us consider perfection an impossibility, and therefore we never even give it a thought, much less set it as our goal?
In business there is a theory known as zero defects. The objective is that the product or service be produced with absolutely no defects. Some companies may have a 98% error-free rate, or 92%—or whatever. In other words, they expect and plan for some defects. But if you operate under zero defects, it means that no quality failure is acceptable, not one percent, not even one.
Now, you may ask, is there any company who actually has a zero defect rate—whose product or service is always 100% perfect? Not likely. But the ones who approach quality from a zero defects mentality do a much better job than those who expect and plan for a certain percentage of defects. When you expect some defects, guess what: you’ll have them.
Now, I would propose to you that we need to approach our walk with God from a zero defects mindset. God said we should be holy for he is holy; we should be in the process of continually becoming conformed to the image of Jesus, as Paul tells us in Romans 8. So, if we are being conformed to the image of Jesus, we would have to have a zero defects mindset—right? No shortcomings, no imperfections in our lives should be planned for, excused, or accepted. Not if we want to be like Jesus.
Have you, like me, often excused yourself with the “nobody’s perfect” rationalization? If so, you have probably settled for a lot less in the quality of your walk with God than you should. “But, Mary,” you say, “it’s true: I can’t be perfect. Are you trying to lay guilt trips on me?”
No, but I think it’s time we stopped excusing ourselves so easily, and consider this call to be holy. Let’s see if we can get a better handle on what it means to adopt the zero defects philosophy, and how we can start down that path.