In my first year of teaching I had a high school student who refused to hand in any work unless it was perfect. She was a bright and dedicated student, but she failed the course because so much work was not handed in. I sat down with her and her mother, and we discussed her paralyzing perfectionism. Then we made ­arrangements for her to retake the course as an independent study, and she passed with flying colors.

It can be easy for us to fall into a similar perfectionism in following Jesus. A voice within us can convince us that if we are not following Jesus perfectly, we are sinning. We need to die to tendencies like that because we will continue to struggle with sin even though we are already saved through Jesus’ sacrifice for us. We have to trust that God will continue to work in us even though we aren’t always sure how to do what God is leading us to do.

For example, my wife and I help with a refugee resettlement ministry, and we have been excited and honored to meet amazing people from all over the world. But we work at this with some “fear and trembling” because we are not experts and we keep learning about different cultures and intercultural sensitivity. Even so, as we stumble our way into new relationships, our new friends have always received us with grace and gratitude.