Calling someone a perfectionist may be meant as a compliment. It implies that the individual is meticulous over details and is constantly striving to improve. There may well be a good deal to admire here, but we need to be sure that these efforts are spiritually based, and not the outcome of mere human will.
Perfectionism is defined by one dictionary as "a belief that moral or spiritual perfection can be achieved by man in this life." Looking thoughtfully into these things, we can see that human perfectionism rests on the belief that man is a mortal, separated from God, and left to himself to work out his salvation. To put it in common parlance, it suggests that you and I are humanly capable of lifting ourselves toward perfection by our own bootstraps. This is the antithesis of Christianity, since Christ Jesus himself declared, "The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works"John 14:10.—and even more specifically, "I can of mine own self do nothing."John 5:30.
The allegory in the second chapter of Genesis illustrates the material view of man, in which he is the creator and sustainer of his own little world. The Lord God puts Adam into the Garden of Eden "to dress it and to keep it."Gen. 2:15. For man to have such responsibility would imply self-sufficiency and deny his dependence on divinity. But man isn't created materially; he's spiritual—God's expression. The creative and sustaining attributes that belong to God, the Supreme Being, are reflected in man, but they do not originate with him or put him in the place of God. The delusion underlying perfectionism is well expressed when the serpent says to Eve: "Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."Gen. 3:5.
