I had a pastor friend once talk to his group of college-age students about idolizing. He said when you idolize someone, you are setting them up to fail, because no one can live up to the standards set for someone placed on a pedestal.

As flawed human beings, we will all fail at some point. When the person we idolize falls from the high place we’ve put them, we often can become disappointed or angry to discover he or she wasn’t the perfect person we thought they should be. It’s not fair to them or to us.

Don’t assign anyone a standard they cannot live up to.

That means your spouse, your kids, your boss, even (or especially) your pastor. Give up placing unreal expectations of excellence or perfection on someone else.

And, by the way, don’t do it to yourself either. Are you a perfectionist? Are you placing higher standards on yourself than you would someone else? Cut yourself some slack. Give yourself a break. Jump down off the pedestal before you fall down. Because inevitably, we all fall down. Thankfully, the grace of God helps us up again. Just stand on the ground and leave the idolizing to J-Lo, Harry and Keith.