We have expectations from family, friends and coworkers;
from our employers and government; contractual expectations from various
sources. This is a year of political
expectations.
As parents we have expectations, some spoken and some not,
for and from our children and likewise they have of us.
The disciples and people in Jesus time had expectations from
him
The mother of James & John expected her boys to have
special favor with Jesus because….well, because after all they were in the ‘inner
circle’.
The disciples expected John to get answers from Jesus
when the others didn’t want to approach him.
The multitudes had expectations of healing, deliverance,
and supplying food (John 6:26) for them.
The religious elite expected Jesus to ‘toe the line’ and
conform to their expectations of a messiah.
We have expectations of Jesus today. The outcome of our fulfilled and unfulfilled
expectations of him plays a major role in our current and future faith and
beliefs.
Sometimes our expectations of God are unrealistic. There are situations we put ourselves in as a
result of either ignorance or total rebellion of God’s ways and truths and then
look to God like a genie in a bottle for immediate relief. When he doesn’t do his magic we then assume
he doesn’t love us (because if he did he would give us everything we ever asked for!) so we storm out of our relationship
like a spoiled child slamming the door.
I certainly am not expert on the mind and ways of God…none
of us really are. Just when we think we
have him figured out (i.e., “Ten steps to________”) we realize God’s ways are
not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9). Expectations are blown out of the water and
we start back on square one with learning all over again about trust and faith
in what we can’t see but yet our hearts tell us is real.
There are other times we pray with purely unselfish
reasons and God doesn’t answer the way we think he should—a friend or family
member suffering with unbearable pain with no relief in sight. Again our expectations of God are not fulfilled
in the immediate answers we seek. Trust and
faith in the unseen is once again called upon even though we don’t understand
the silence.
Have you ever consider God’s expectations of us? They are actually quite simple yet
complicated for our “I” mentality.
B ELIEVE…. in Jesus Christ as the
one and only son of God (Jo 3:5-6, 16; 6:29; John 14:11).
O BEY… more than saying but living
what we believe… (John 8:31-32; 14:15; John 15)
L OVE… one another as I love the
Father (John 13:34-35). Love is the
product of BELIEVE and OBEY
(1 John
4:18-19).
D ISCIPLE… is BELIVE, OBEY and
LOVE in action (Matthew 28:18-20).
Jesus said, “All who love me will do what I say. My father will love them, and we will come
and make our home with each of them. I
am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world
cannot give. So don’t be troubled or
afraid. The world would love you as one
of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it
hates you. I have told you these things
so that you won’t abandon your faith. The
Father himself loves you dearly because you love me and believe that I came
from God. Here on earth you will have
many trials and sorrows. But take heart,
because I have overcome the world.”
(Jesus praying for you and me) “ Holy Father you have
given me your name; now protect them by the power of your name so that they
will be united just as we are…I am praying not only for these disciples but
also for all who will ever believe
(you and me!!) in me through their message….may they be in us so that the world
will believe you sent me…may they experience such perfect unity that the world
will know that you sent me.” (John 14-17)
It takes being BOLD to stand against popular
beliefs and expectations. It takes being BOLD to live in this world, not become part of
this world. It takes being BOLD
to live as Jesus would today.
A fellow BOLD… in progress,
Kay
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