The Imperfect Mom

You know, someone has said if the father is the head of the home, the mother is the heart of the home. And I think most of us can resonate with that and identify with that that our mothers did pour a lot of love into us and modeled for us, taught us how to love others and how to love God. In many cases, she was the one that taught us that. And so we're grateful for mothers today. Mother's Day is a wonderful day, isn't it? It's a time to celebrate and honor our mothers and we enjoy that. As a family, we enjoy it as a church. It's just a great day. But it can also be a day that's a real guilt trip for a lot of women. And I guess I've done my share of contributing to that guilt trip over the years. I look back through some titles of previous mothers day messages to make sure I would not be covering the same ground. And I found messages like this, the model mother from Titus chapter two. How to be a great mom for Samuel one, the ideal woman from Proverbs 31 found several messages from Proverbs 31. That's a great place to go to tell you moms how you ought to be living and what y'all to be doing. And so a lot of times we reinforce those standards, none of which we apologize for. Obviously, the standards of God's word. But sometimes mothers day becomes a day when you're reminded of all of the things you're not doing. Or at least not doing as you would hope to be doing them. And I am sure that behind all of those handshakes and good message pastors, you went out the door on those Sundays, you probably inwardly were thinking, give me a break. So that's what I'm going to do this morning. I'm going to give you a break. We're going to lighten up a little bit. And I'm going to do something a little different this morning. Some of you will not like this because you'll think you should have preached out of Proverbs 31. But I want to this morning encourage you as moms, especially young mothers with children at home. I want to encourage you today. I want to preach on the imperfect mom today. I had a lady say to me earlier this morning, please be careful about what you say about me today. I'm going to preach about imperfect mothers today. So relax. I'm going to give you a break. In 1967 a book came out written by Dr. Tom Harris called I'm OK, You're OK. It was a psychology type book. It was written by a psychologist. And he was promoting a new arena of psychology called transactional analysis. And I'm not going to get into that. I'm not qualified to really get into all that. But the book was very much opposed to a biblical perspective on the nature of people and how they should be helped. So I really thought about entitling this message today kind of a play on that book. I'm not OK. You're not OK. And that's OK. That's kind of what I want to communicate to you this morning. We're not all there. We're not all together. But that's OK as long as we have a biblical perspective on this whole issue. So this morning my goal is to take some of the pressure off of you mom. And to encourage you some this morning. And here's where we're headed. We're not going to open our bibles to begin with. We will get in the middle of the message to a biblical perspective on some things. But in order to make that really have some punch, we I think we need to begin with a cultural perspective of the kinds of expectations that are placed on mothers today. So we're going to start with the perfection police, those who tell you what you ought to be doing, how you ought to be, what you ought to be in our culture, what you see in the magazines, what you see on television and here from Hollywood. Then we're going to talk about a biblical perspective, a perfection theology. And we'll see what the Bible says about perfection. And then we'll try to bring all that together into a perfection balance. But let's begin with the perfection police. This is what our culture is shouting at you women. This is what the world tells us you should be and you should be doing. The perfection police are after you. And they are telling you that you've got to be the perfect wife, the perfect mother, the perfect woman, the perfect homemaker. And here's how you do it. If you don't measure up, then you're a failure. And so immediately the guilt begins and the pressure begins to live up to those expectations. I want to comment on at least five areas where the perfection police are after you. First of all, regarding your home, the perfection police tell you and send you this message that your home needs to look like the pictures and better homes in garden or country living. That your home has to have brand new, beautiful furniture, all of it matching. With matching decor, they tell us that your home has to have the magazines perfectly found out on the coffee table in the living room. That your homes should be homes where the drapes are hung without any sags, where the pictures are perfectly placed on the wall to the exact millimeter of distance and location from each other. That your pantry is perfectly arranged with all the cans of soup and alphabetical order. The perfection police tell you that you should have no dust or glasses rings on your furniture. Your home needs to look like the homes in the magazines. The perfection police are after you aren't they? Amping up the expectations for you as a mom. But they're also after you in regard to your appearance. The perfection police tell you that as a woman, you need to be thin. You need to be immaculately groomed. You need to be well dressed every hair in place. Nails beautifully manicured, teeth perfectly straight and sparkling white. There will be no hang nails, no loose buttons, no wrinkles on the clothing or the face for you to have the right appearance. I read this week about the Guinness book of World Records, the mother who has had the most children. And I read this to my wife last night. It's a mother in Russia. She lived between 1707 and 1782. Her name was Mrs. Fyodor. Fyodor Vasiliev. Between 1725 and 1765, between the ages of 18 and 58, she gave birth 27 times to 69 children. She had 16 pairs of twins, seven sets of triplets and four sets of quadruplets. And when I read that to my wife, her first response was what I know you're thinking this morning. I like to see what her body looked like after all that. The perfection police would probably just not even go after her. The perfection police are telling you what your appearance should be like. The perfection police are also after you regarding your personal life. You always have to have the perfect balance between household duties and mothering duties and loving caring wife to your husband. And if you work outside the home, that's got to be balanced with a 40 hour week or more job as well. Your wardrobe must be color coordinated. You save $100 a week on groceries by careful couponing. You have your meals planned out a month in advance. All the meals are actually cooked and in the freezer ready to pull out and warm up for the meal the next day. Your birthday cards for family and friends are all purchased a month ahead and laid out carefully just waiting to be sent out in the mail. Your exercise time is scheduled like clockwork. Yeah, that's what you're supposed to be as a woman and a wife and a mother. The perfection police are out to get you in your personal life. Did you know they also dip over into the arena of your spiritual life? There are perfection police that tell you what your spiritual life ought to be like too. And it's a very daunting standard. The perfection police say, well, you've got to be having your devotions every day reading your Bible every day. And certainly that's a worthy goal. And I would highlight the fact that Bible reading and time with the Lord is very important. But sometimes we can become so legalistic with that that if you miss a day, it's kind of like you're thinking, I'm a failure. I'm an absolute spiritual failure. Well, you don't do that with eating, do you? When you miss a meal, you say, I'm a failure. I'm never going to eat again. I'm not even going to ever try. You don't do that. So obviously, you don't need to consider yourself a failure if you miss one day of Bible reading. But in addition to Bible reading, that's too skimming. That's too surface. You've got to also be doing deep Bible study, at least an hour a day, commentaries spread out all over your kitchen table, studying the Word of God like the greatest theologian in America. And you've got to be reading devotional books. In addition to that, and keeping up with three Christian magazines as well, and then a prayer list that would put Paul's to shame, praying for every person that's ever asked you to pray for them. But don't forget that spontaneous praying too, through the day because Paul said, pray without ceasing. So you've got to be praying all through the day as well. And of course, you've read the latest Christian book, put out by the latest Christian publisher, and you're reading all of the journals that you can get your hands on. And you've got to journal yourself about all of your spiritual experiences and your prayer life and your answers to prayer. If you don't do that, you're not really a godly Christian. The perfection police are out after you in your spiritual life as well. But they are also out after you in regard to your children. The perfection police have taught you that you are always directly responsible for every behavior of your children. So you feel like I've always got to be in control. My children can never act out of line. That's how you raise psychos, by the way. But anyway, my children can never get out of line. I'm responsible for everything. And so you live your life afraid of going out in public. When you take your kids to a restaurant, you're absolutely mortified thinking they're going to do something that will make you look like a terrible mom because you're responsible so you feel as tremendous guilt for whatever goes wrong with your kids. I read the story of one mother, I'm going to let her tell it. One summer afternoon when the girls were two and three, I laid them down for naps and came downstairs just as the phone rang. The friend calling wanted to know if it was a good time to stop by for a visit. We chatted a while and I encouraged her to come. When I hung up the phone, I could hear the girls giggling. So I went up to check on them. As I climbed the stairs, I could tell the laughter was coming from our bedroom, not theirs. And I suspected mischief. Even so, I wasn't prepared for the sight that greeted me as I stepped or as I stopped in the doorway of the bedroom. Aaron and Martha had stripped off all their clothes and all the sheets on our water bed. They had emptied an economy-sized bottle of baby oil on the vinyl mattress. They were now dripping wet with oil, gleefully sliding across the slick surface like playful sea otters on ice. Martha noticed me first. Look Molly, she squealed with delight as she dove off the headboard and slid across the king-sized mattress, spraying droplets of oil in every direction. This sounds exactly like some Wilkerson girls I used to know. Aaron was close behind. Her slippery little body squirted it up and over Martha before sprawling against the wall at the edge of the bed, ending up beside her sister in a pile of giggles. Other oil splotches on the wall and the soggy sheets on the floor marked earlier crash landing sites. I left the room to regain my composure and get the camera. When I returned, I documented the scene for future generations before I handled the discipline. Just as I was carrying the girls downstairs for baths, my friend arrived. As I plucked my mopets into the warm water and added degreaser, I briefly explained what it happened. My friend's eyes widened in disbelief and she burst out laughing. Although she was too kind to say it, I could easily imagine her thinking and where were you when all this was happening. How could things gotten so out of hand? What kind of a mother would? And then she ends this by saying, have you noticed that no one ever asks what kind of a child would ever do such a thing? Some of you moms understand that very well. But the perfection police are telling you if your children ever do anything out of line, you're a terrible mom. You haven't lived up to the expectations. Well, that borders on idolatry. But honestly, when you try to follow all of the advice that you hear out in the culture or that you see on television, the cosmetic commercials or the movies or whatever it may be, when you try to follow all that and think, that's what I should be, that becomes your idol. When you bow down to the standards of the perfection police, when you kneel down before you're to-do lists, I wonder sometimes how God sees us. Whether he sees us scurrying around, striving to do more and more, always dashing from one place to the next. Wonder if he sees us that way, pushing through life, ignoring the good gifts that he's given us around us, especially our family. The perfection police are out to get you. Well, what does God's word say about all this? What does the Bible teach about perfection and standards as to what you should be? I want to develop with us this morning kind of a perfection theology, a theology meaning what the Bible teaches about something, what the word of God says about something. And kind of put together a three step, and it's important to get these in this order, a three step theology of perfection from the word of God. And where we need to begin is in Matthew chapter 5 and verse 48. The beginning of a perfection theology is this, understand the goal. Understand the goal, because the goal is perfection. Matthew chapter 5, verse 48, Jesus in the middle of the sermon on the mount says it very plainly, very concisely, very simply, verse 48, He says, be perfect therefore as your heavenly father is perfect. And so, wait a second, John, I thought you were going to ease up on us today. I thought you were going to give us a break, what you were going to lighten up a little bit. And here you're saying, Jesus told us to be perfect, like God is perfect. Well, first of all, let me back up a step and place this in its proper context. Jesus is teaching about relationships here, and he's talking in this particular passage about how to treat our enemies. He's talking about how we should love those who are enemies, how we should pray for those who have wrongfully used us, done something wrong to us. And he says, the reason for that in verse 45 is so that you may be children of your father in heaven. Now, that does not mean, don't misunderstand it. It doesn't mean that we become children of God by treating other people right. It doesn't mean we get saved or we get to heaven by treating people right. That doesn't mean that. And he talks about being children of your father, he's talking about bearing the family resemblance, being a true child that looks just like your daddy, that acts like your daddy. So what he's saying is, is we should treat our enemies like God treats his enemies. In fact, he goes on to say that in verse 45, that you may be children of your father in heaven. He causes his son to rise on the evil and the good. And sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? In other words, he's saying, if you just love people who love you and treat well, people who treat you well, you're not doing anything different than the average unsaved person across the street. You're not living to the standard of your father in heaven who sends his gracious gifts of life both on the good and the evil. And in that context, he sums it up by saying, in verse 48, be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly father is perfect. So the standard of how we are to treat others, particularly our enemies, the standard is set by a perfect God. You say, well, that's still pretty daunting, even if it's isolated to that one area, and it is. And the application does go across the board for everything about the way we live. The goal is perfection. The goal in our lives is for Jesus to mold us and shape us and make us to be like Himself. The Bible is very clear on that in many passages that Christ is desiring to make us like Himself. We are to be godly, which means we reflect the character of God. We are to be Christ like. He is molding us into His image, into His likeness. So the whole purpose, the whole goal of the Christian life, and what God is doing with us is that we might be like Him. So in that context, yes, this applies to across the board everything, whether your mother, father, single, never married, an older person whose parenting days are pretty much behind you, no matter where you are in life or who you are, the goal, the standard for all of us is perfection. It's Christ-likeness. It's to reflect the image of God, of our Father in heaven. So that's the goal for all of us. But that's not all the Bible teaches about perfection. It is our goal. It is what God is moving us toward. But the second part of this perfection theology in the Scriptures is this, recognize you are not perfect. Okay, here's the balance to this. Recognize that you are not perfect. The goal is to be like Christ and to be like our Father, but realize, recognize that you are not perfect, not this side of heaven. The best place to explore that is in Romans chapter 7. So I would invite you to turn there in your Bible, Romans chapter 7, and we'll read some verses there where Paul describes his recognition of the fact that he had not arrived. He was certainly not perfect. There's been a lot of debate about Romans 7 as to whether or not it describes the life of a believer or an unbeliever. Some people who say, you know, some of the description here can't be true of a believer. But if you recognize that Paul is developing a train of thought here that includes chapter 6 and 8, 6, 7 and 8, both all three are talking about how we live the Christian life. And chapter 6 talking about recognizing our position in Christ and living that out. And chapter 8 is talking about availing ourself of the power of the Spirit of God in our lives. Holy Spirit mentioned 19 times in Romans chapter 8. In between chapter is telling us where the reality of our experience is as a believer. And some of the things Paul says here are very clearly, very clearly talking about his own experience as a believer, as a Christ follower, as a Christian. He lives with this struggle. Now let him describe this struggle and I think we will all in this room unless we are self-deceived. We will all identify with this. Chapter 7 verse 14. We know that the law is spiritual, but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. That last expression is one of the ones that some people struggle with being said of a believer. But Paul will go on to say very plainly about himself in the present tense a little bit later, I am sold as a slave to sin. The problem is this. Here's what he's talking about. He's talking about the fact that we still have a sinful nature that we cannot escape. We're tied to it. We're like a slave that cannot escape. We can't get freedom from this thing because it's always with us. It's a part of our makeup. It's a part of our humanity. We cannot shed it like a snake does its old skin. You can't get rid of it. And in that sense, you're tied to it. You're enslaved to it. That's the idea here as Paul develops it throughout this chapter. The law, God's word, that's spiritual. I'm not. Paul says, verse 15, I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do. You can identify with that conflict, can't you? If you're honest as a believer, there are times when you know what the Bible teaches, and inwardly, that's what you really want to do and you find yourself not doing it. And then there are things that deep down, you hate, you know they're sin. And when you find yourself guilty of them, you feel terrible. You don't want to live that way. You don't want to think those things or say those things or do those things and you feel terrible guilt when you do. But you find yourself doing those things. And that struggle, that struggle is there for every believer. For 16, Paul says, and if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. But the very fact that I don't want to do it is what he's saying. I'm saying that God's words right, God's word is good. You know that's there. Verse 17, as it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. Now Paul's not excusing himself. Paul's not saying, can't help but the devil made me do it. So why even try it a little godly life? He's not saying that. He's placing the blame where the blame really is. You know, I have a new nature. I want to do what God wants me to do, but I still have a sin nature. And it's that old sin nature that keeps pulling me that other direction. It's not my identity in Christ. It's not the new me. It's not who I am in Christ, but I've still got that sin nature that keeps pulling me the other direction. That's what he's talking about. That very real struggle that we all face. Word we leave off. Verse 17, verse 18. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me. That is in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. You know, I really want to obey God and live according to His Word and live a godly life. I just can't be consistent with that. And it's frustrating, isn't it? Verse 19. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do this I keep on doing. Now, if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. Again, it's not excusing Himself. He's just saying, that's not my identity in Christ. It's my sin nature. I recognize its presence and it's still pulling me toward evil. Verse 21. So I find this law or this principle at work. Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law. See the heart yearning there? That's not true of an unbeliever. It is a believer who says in my inner being, in my heart, I really do delight in God's Word. I know it's right and that's the way I want to live. Verse 23. But I see another law or another principle at work in me waging war against the law of my mind. The law of my mind is my mind agreeing with the Word of God and saying, that's really the way I want to live. But there's another law of principle warring against that, fighting against that. And making me, He says, a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. Paul at the end of the chapter just kind of throws up his hands with this struggle that he continually goes through and he says in verse 24, what a wretched man I am. Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? The answer verse 25, thanks be to God who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord. Any victory we find on this side of heaven is through Christ. And his enablement and power through the Holy Spirit chapter 8, he'll deal with that more. And ultimately we will be changed into the likeness of Christ when we get to heaven. But we will face this struggle as long as we are in this human body that has a simple nature. So what Paul is saying is realistically, although I long to be perfect, to always be doing exactly what God's word teaches. There's something else fighting inside me that keeps pulling me back. And that's the sinful nature. And so recognize you are not perfect, not this side of heaven at least. You're not perfect. Now, that's a balancing reality that will keep you sane spiritually. It will keep you from falling into the ditch on one tangent or extreme or the other. And believe me, there are extremes all over the map on this issue. But if you hold those two in balance, the goal is perfection. Yes, I'm supposed to be Christ's light. That's what God saved me for. It's what He wants me to be. But I recognize I'm not perfect, not here. Now the third part is very critical. This helps tie it all together. The third part of a biblical perfection theology is simply keep making progress. Keep making progress toward the goal. Okay? Recognizing you're not perfect here, you will sin, but keep making progress toward the goal. Paul describes his own heart in that matter in Philippians chapter 3. What a great passage where Paul describes his own perspective on the Christian life. And this walk of faith. He says in Philippians chapter 3, verse 12, not that I have already obtained all this. What's the all this? It's the righteousness that he has found in Christ and that Christ is working out in his life. It's all that he's talked about in the first 11 verses. Being conformed to his image and experiencing the power of his resurrection, he says, not that I've already obtained all this. Paul says, I know I haven't reached that. I haven't attained that yet. By the way, if he says he hasn't attained it, I don't think anyone in this room has either. Paul says, I know I haven't attained that yet, but notice what he says there in verse 12, but I press on to take hold of that for which I have obtained that. But I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. I love the way he says that. He says, Jesus Christ took hold of me for something. When he saved me, he took hold of me for something. Think of the imagery of the potter and the clay. He has you in his hands. He is shaping and molding your life to be like him. That's what he took hold of you for. You see, salvation is not only about getting you to heaven and forgiving your sin, although that's a wonderful part of it. The part of salvation is also the ongoing work of sanctification or Christ making us more like himself, shaping and molding us. That's what he took hold of us for when he saved us. It's not like he just wrote the record book in heaven, you're saved. I take my hands off of you. Now it's all up to you until you get to heaven. No, he took hold of us. He took hold of us. Paul says, I keep pressing on to take hold of that or to embrace that purpose for which he took hold of me. Okay. So what's he talking about pressing on toward? The goal of perfection that we will only reach in heaven, but we should be making daily progress toward as we embrace that which Jesus is shaping and molding us to be. Take hold of that which he took hold of us for. He goes on to describe that passionate pursuit in verse 13. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. In other words, I haven't yet reached all that God is shaping me to be. I haven't embraced that all yet. But one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. Please get the imagery here of a runner in a race not looking over his shoulder. And forgetting what is behind has at least a twofold implication. Paul says, I'm going to forget about my past failures. You see, a lot of people are mired and stuck in the guilt of their past and their past failure. And they let them, they let that keep them from pressing on toward the goal. They get discouraged and just quit because I've failed. I've messed up and so there's no need even trying anymore. I'm done. I'm finished. I'm not going to do this anymore. Paul says I'm going to forget that past failure. But he also probably is referring to, especially in this context, if you read the first 11 verses. He's talked a lot about what a good moral religious person he was before he came to Christ. And I think he's also talking about forgetting his past successes. Because you see, a lot of people will look at their past and success and they'll become complacent with where they are and think, you know, I've reached a pretty good level. And that can stop you from going further. So Paul says I'm forgetting that which is behind, whether it's being mired in the guilt of my failure or being complacent with the degree of my success. I'm forgetting what's behind. I'm looking toward the finish line. I'm pressing toward what's ahead. I'm straining toward what's ahead. Like a hundred yard dash, 100 meter now, dash runner, straining toward that finish line, stretching out to try to beat the guy that's right beside him. I'm straining toward the finish line. And what is that finish line? Verse 14, I press on toward the goal. I use that imagery again, the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heaven, word in Christ. What's God going to do for you when you get to heaven? What is the prize? What is he making you to be when you get to heaven that will be complete? It is his image. It is Christ's likeness. It is being perfect like your father in heaven is perfect. That's the finish line. That's the goal. Paul's not talking about I'm working hard and straining to try to get into heaven. That's not the idea. He says, I'm not going to let my past failure or my past success keep me from keeping making progress, maintaining progress toward that which Christ has taken hold of me for to shape me into his image to make me more like him to perfect me. Now that goal will not be reached till you get to heaven. But the straining of every believer ought to be, the desire, the focus of every believer ought to be. That's the goal. I'm going to keep my eye on the finish line and on that goal and I'm going to take steps toward that every day. Somebody said something to me years ago. I don't even remember who it was. But they said something that stuck with me. They said, today I want to grow a day's worth. And that just stuck with me. I think that's a wonderful way to look at the Christian life. I messed up yesterday. I said or did or thought some things. My attitudes were not right. I messed up. I'm not going to let that keep me from focusing on the goal. Today, Sunday, May 13th, I'm going to grow a day's worth. I'm going to make a day's worth of progress toward that goal. I'm not going to slip back. That's the way we ought to approach the Christian life. That's the way we ought to approach being followers of Christ, regardless whether you're a mother or father or whatever. But on this mother's day, let me say to mothers, that is the way to approach your life as a mother. Forget all the stuff the culture is telling you about what you should be and you need to be in order to be just right up with everybody else. No, no. Realize the goal that God has set for you is perfection. Recognize you're not perfect here. But take some steps toward that goal today. Grow a day's worth today. Make progress toward that goal today. Now, some of you are going to feel like and do feel like the woman who went on the stress diet. If you're to the stress diet, well, I'll add this one to your list of diets that you want to try. Here's the stress diet. Breakfast, half a grapefruit, one piece of whole wheat toast, eight ounces of skim milk. Getting this down. Lunch, four ounces of lean, broiled chicken breast, one cup of steamed zucchini, herb tea, one Oreo cookie, mid-afternoon snack, the rest of the package of Oreo cookies. One cord of rocky road ice cream covered with one jar of hot fudge. And it gets even better at dinner. Dinner is two loaves of garlic bread, a large sausage and pepperoni pizza, a large picture of root beer, three milky ways, and an entire frozen cheesecake eaten directly from the freezer. You've done that, haven't you? I mean, maybe not exactly that. I hope not, but you've done something similar to that. We realized the goal. We recognized we're not there. But we don't let failure stop us. We keep making progress day by day toward the goal. Now, what does this mean for you as mothers? Let's draw this together with a perfection balance. How should you view your role as a wife, a mother, a woman, in view of what the Bible teaches as opposed to what the culture demands? Let me apply this theology to you for just a moment. As regards your home, your appearance, your personal life, your spiritual life, your children, recognize the goal. Is perfection. Recognize you are not perfect and will never be this side of heaven. But today, today, fix your eyes on that goal, take some steps toward it. Make some progress today. Grow a day's worth today. And that's what God is expecting of you. The call to be perfect, the call to be like Christ, is really a call to continually grow, to continually mature. It's not a call to be sinless. The Bible makes it clear you can't do that. If anyone claims to be sinless, first of all, he deceives himself and he makes God a liar. First John 1 says that pretty plainly. So the call to be perfect is a call to continually grow and mature toward the goal. That's what Christ is calling us to do. You will not be perfect this side of heaven because you're a sinner and because you live in a sin-curse world, because of the fall. You have failed. We have failed. We are probably failing in some area of our lives right now and you will fail again in the future. That should disappoint us. In fact, I believe if you're a true believer, that will disappoint you. Anytime you fail, that will disappoint you. But it should not destroy you. It should not devastate you to the point that you quit and give up and say, this is not worth it. I'm just going to live like I want to. No, fail will disappoint us, but it should not destroy us. And I challenge every mother here this morning. Please release your grip on perfectionism. If you get the magazines, you put them on your coffee table. That's all right. Just don't read them. Release your grip on perfectionism and your fear of failure and remember a biblical theology of perfection. Embrace that. And God will enable you step by step the way He designed the Christian life to operate. From glory to glory, He says in 2 Corinthians 3, 18, we become more like Christ, step by step, increments little by little, day by day, we're making progress. And if you take that view of being wife and a mother and a godly woman, there will not be the stress and pressure on you. You'll be a lot easier to live with at home. And your family will see a lot more of the smile that I'm seeing right now. They need to see that. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the balanced teaching of your word about what the Christian life is all about and what you expect of us. Lord, I thank you that you're not satisfied with anything less than perfection. That's what you're shaping us to be. But you also tell us realistically that's not going to happen here, not on this side of heaven. But you've challenged us to make progress toward that goal and to keep straining toward that goal, stretching ourselves out toward that finish line. I pray, Father, for every mother here today that they will be encouraged to realize they're not going to be perfect here. But in every area of their mothering and of their lives helped them to make a day's worth of progress today. Bless them and encourage them this day. We ask in Jesus' name, amen.