We have great expectations, don’t we? We want everything to be perfect. We work so hard at controlling things, events, circumstances, and people around us, with perfection as our goal. We want our spouses to be perfect, our children to be perfect, our homes to be perfect, our families and friends and even our churches to be perfect. We expect our lives to be perfect --- or at least a lot better than they are now!

We get worried and anxious when things don’t go like we planned. We get frustrated and worried over circumstances beyond our control. We get impatient and angry over people who don’t do what we expect them to do; people who let us down, who fall short of our great expectations.

Who or what is responsible for our frustration and anger? Is it the circumstance that we cannot control? Is it the person or people we have no control over? Or is it maybe our own unrealistic expectations? Do we cause our own problems because we expect everything to go according to OUR plans?

Unfortunately, we do not live in a perfect world. We live in a fallen world, tainted by sin. We cause ourselves untold grief, frustration and anxiety when we expect perfection in anything or anyone in this world. We put such great expectations on others, desiring a degree of perfection we cannot meet ourselves. Nothing and no one in the world will ever live up to our great expectations for very long. Even things that seem to be perfect don’t stand up to the test of time.

The desire for perfection is within all of us. God gave it to us to make us search for Him, as only He is perfect. Only He can satisfy the deepest needs and desires of our hearts. Only He loves us with an everlasting love. (see Jeremiah 31:3) Only He will never fail us, never let us down. Only He loves us, even when we are truly unlovable. His love is eternal and perfect in every way.

How unrealistic we are to look for perfection in a sinful and imperfect world. We need to learn to love people just as they are, imperfections and all. Isn’t that what God did for us? We need to learn that God is the only One who is truly perfect and good. Only He can satisfy our desire for perfection.

The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works. The LORD is near unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them. Ps 145:17-19