The Search for Significance

36 The Search For Significance
Spirit, we can challenge the indoctrinations and
traditions that have long held us in guilt and condemnation.
Then we can replace those deceptions
with the powerful truths of the Scriptures.
One of the main deceptions we tend to believe
is that success will bring fulfillment and happiness.
Again and again, we've tried to measure up,
thinking that if we could meet certain standards,
we would feel good about ourselves. But again and
again we've failed and are left feeling miserable.
Even if we succeed almost all of the time, occasional
failure can be so devastating that it can
dominate our perception of ourselves.
Consciously or unconsciously, all of us have experienced
this feeling that we must meet certain
arbitrary standards to attain self-worth. At that
point, we are accepting the first false belief: */
must meet certain standards in order to feel good
about myself." When we believe this about ourselves,
Satan's distortion of truth is reflected in
our attitudes and behavior.
Because of our unique personalities, people react
very differently to this deception. As we saw
in the last chapter, one frequent response is that
people become slaves to perfectionism — driving
themselves incessantly toward attaining goals.
Perfectionists can be quite vulnerable to serious
mood disorders, and they often anticipate rejection
when they believe they haven't met the standards
they are trying so hard to
meet. Therefore,
perfectionists tend to react defensively to criticism
and demand to be in control of most situations
they encounter. Because they are more competent
than most, perfectionists see nothing wrong
with their compulsions. "I just like to see things
done well," they claim. There is certainly nothing
inherently wrong with doing things well, but the
problem is that perfectionists base their self-worth
on their ability to accomplish a goal. Therefore,