Great Expectations

Our lives are filled with expectations. In 1860, Charles Dickens wrote Great Expectations, one of the 20 greatest novels of all time.  It is a beautifully written piece of classic literature portraying the struggle, hope, or... expectation... of moral and social advancement. Relationships are built on expectations whether they are verbalized or not. We expect our spouse to be faithful to us, to treat us with respect and kindness. We expect our children to be obedient, (or we should) to work hard and live productive lives. We have expectations from our friends, our co-workers, and even our church. When these expectations are not met it can result in hurt feelings, disappointment, and even anger.

 

The angriest I have ever been at Kevin was a few years ago. I am not the most organized person. It is something I have always struggled with and tried unsuccessfully to accomplish. Kevin was sifting through a stack of mail that was laid on the counter in the kitchen and discovered an unpaid and overdue water bill. One of his expectations of me is to pay the bills. I, neglecting to meet this expectation, caused him frustration and he said, "nothing gets done around here." I can still hear the words echoing in my head. Which is kind of amazing because I think the top of my head came off! Which would make it very hard to produce an echo sound =) I was so hurt, indignant, and offended! How dare he say nothing gets done!   

 

What had happened was he had neglected to meet an unspoken (and very high) expectation I have of being appreciated. Bless his heart, he was completely unaware of the land mine he would set of with those words and apologized later. We can joke about it now but it was no joking matter then. One expectation we should never put on our loved ones however, is expecting them to not disappoint us. Even those who love us the most will make mistakes and disappoint us. We also need to recognize that we, try as we might, will disappoint those we love as well. That is where grace, mercy, and forgiveness come in.

 

When considering our expectations, what expectations do we have of Christ? I'm sure everyone's are different. He lays out clearly what to expect from Him in His word. Some of our expectations can be off the mark. For example, if we expect to not suffer, or for Him to promptly remove our suffering, His word clearly tells us we will suffer. "For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake," Philippians 1:29. We may become frustrated when we are not blessed but we are told, "Now therefore, listen to me, my children, For blessed are those who keep my ways." Proverbs 8:32. We forget that there are stipulations with our blessings. Many become hurt and disappointed but are not seeing Christ for who he really is. We gain knowledge and insight into our relationship with Christ when we take time to really think about what we expect from Him and then see if those expectations line up with what He has revealed to us in His word. He will not change, he cannot. So, we need to come to expect from Him exactly what He has told us to expect.  Come to love His faithfulness and steadfastness to give us exactly what we need. And even appreciate His chastisement. "Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." Hebrews 12:11.

 

On the flip side of that same coin, what are we not expecting from Christ that His word tells we should? We live in an age where we believe God is great but there are just some things He cannot, or for those willing to go out on a limb, will not do. How many Christians have we heard say, and I have been guilty of saying, "well, we can hope." Do we believe that Christ can cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness? "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" 1 John 1:9. Do we believe that He will deliver us from our adversaries? "Then Joshua said to them, “Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed; be strong and of good courage, for thus the Lord will do to all your enemies against whom you fight." Joshua 10:25. Do we believe, really believe, that we are already victorious in every battle we will enter for Him? Do we KNOW that He still changes hearts and brings victory over our life long personality traits that are sinful, divisive, or ungodly? Or in the back of our mind do we still hear that little whisper of defeat saying, I/he/she will never change. We have to shut up that voice with the power of God. Stand on the promises of His word that he WILL deliver and never tire of expecting Him to be true to His word.

 

 

 

Post script: I was going to edit out my own doubt of God's deliverance from my lack of ability to be organized mentioned in paragraph two. I decided to leave it in to show how easily we succumb to the shackles of this life and accept that there are some things we just cannot change. God can change it, expect Him to.