August 7th | Made for More Series | Sunday Service | Mountain View Church

• Paint-grade doors when you’re remodeling and you’re going to paint everything white anyway

• The way the dishes are placed in the dishwasher—especially when it’s your birthday and someone else is doing the dishes for you;

 • The care with which the patio is swept when you know another sand storm is expected the next day;

• Rolling through a stop sign and calling it a “stop” when it’s 3 in the morning and you’re alone in the middle of the Nevada desert;

• Playing bogey golf when you only even play golf once a year anyway;

• Costco hot dogs for dinner after a chaotic day shuttling the kids from gymnastics to soccer practice and back again;

• Sending a text or email instead of a hand-written note;

• Surfing four out of seven days a week (well … some surfers would reluctantly agree to that restriction);

• The quality of the meat you purchase when it’s your mother-in-law that’s coming for dinner.

Everyone’s list is different, but everyone does have a list (mental or otherwise) like the one above: Things that are just, well… good enough!

And most of the things on those lists are relatively benign. In fact, it doesn’tmake sense to pay the extra for a beautifully finished birch door when you’re just going to paint it white anyway, right? In that case, paint-grade is good enough—so paint-grade doors stay on the list. So does the way the kids (or husband or houseguest) load the dishes into the dishwasher on your birthday, as does an imperfect sweeping of the patio in the face of another oncoming storm.

But we who follow Jesus—and even those who don’t—might agree that each of us also has a smaller list of values for which “good enough” will never do. Things like: loving a spouse most of the time; washing most of the dirt from our bodies when we bathe; keeping most of our promises; and, though we are assured that Jesus accepts us “just as we are,” being content to stay that way as we move through life.

Why should that list also exist? Because God never intended for us to settle for “good enough” when it comes to our faith. Be ‘perfect’ just as your Father in heaven is ‘perfect’ is the ultimate never stop growing statement! And while some are content with simply tampering around the edges of personal development and spiritual growth, we are certainly made for more.