A Perfect 10
Romanian gymnastics sensation Nadia Comaneci took the gymnastics world by storm in the 1970s. Crowds were mesmerized by her grace, her athleticism, and her off the charts skill and technique. They (and the judges) came to anticipate only the best performances from her. But no one — not the crowd, not the judges, not the arena techies, not even Nadia — was prepared for what happened when then 14 year old Nadia Comaneci took to the uneven bars at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games.
Nadia approached the bars with her usual, fiery determination. She executed her mount, each element, each transition, each flip, even the dismount to perfection. No, really! Perfection! No one, NO ONE had ever done that before!
“[Even the] scoreboard didn’t know what to do: it wasn’t able to display the four digits needed to show a row of 10.00s, because nobody had even conceived that it was possible.”
Nadia stood confused as she saw the 1.00 scores from each of the seven judges flashing on the board. It took a moment to sink in that she’d achieved what no one thought possible — a perfect 10!
The announcer exclaimed, “A 10 has gone on the board, and that’s perfection, that is Olympic history!”
“Once it was proved achievable, though, she couldn’t stop doing it: Comaneci got six more perfect tens as she swept to three gold medals (all around, uneven bars and balance beam) and international superstardom.”
When it comes to life, not one of us will ever achieve a perfect score. Scripture is clear, “We all like sheep have gone astray” (Isaiah 53:6, NIV). “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:23, NLT).
But there is One who has achieved it! “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21, NIV), exchanging His perfect life, His perfect obedience for our own imperfect, sinful selves.
It’s so unexpected! We stand amazed, like the Olympic commentators, because "nobody had even conceived that it was possible."
We stare at the scoreboard, shocked to see that perfect score attributed to our performance.
Our sinful souls now stand justified in His presence. As such, all that we now do “in Him” will resound in the heart of the Father as perfection. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20 ESV).
In Christ, we score a perfect 10!
“I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me” (Philippians 3:12, NLT).
Spiritual Anorexia
Christy Henrich was an athletically gifted, world class gymnast who narrowly missed making the 1988 US Olympic team. Weighing just under 100 lbs at the time, Christy was convinced that she missed making the team because she was too fat.
Just as perfectionism and performance anxiety can prove fatal physically, they also pose a serious threat to our spiritual lives. Works salvation and legalism would rob us of the sustenance we need to live and thrive in our walk with God.
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Grace Robbers
Robert Crosby distinguished between “grace-robbers” and “grace-givers.” He types “grace-robbers” into three categories:
1. Some are PESSIMISTS—their negative words and carping spirit destroys others;
2. Some are PERFECTIONISTS—they set up others and themselves for failure;
3. Some are PEDAGOGUES—they are our resident know-it-alls who can do no wrong.
Robert C. Crosby is senior pastor of the Christian Center in Burlington, Massachusetts. He has written for Focus on the Family magazine, Christian Parenting Today, New Man, and Discipleship Journal.
All three rob us of grace by hindering our joy and freedom in Christ. The pessimist does this by undermining our faith in a God who can work in any set of circumstances. The perfectionist does this by causing us to forget that we are whole in Christ. The pedagogue does this by pretending they don't need God's grace.
Let us live in such a way that our words, attitudes and actions impart grace to everyone we meet, believer and unbeliever alike. This is the ONLY way we can be true to the Gospel of Grace and to the salvation we have received!
"Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone" (Colosians 4:6).
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