A person’s expectations do not always match the reality. In fact, some might argue that those two never meet. This past week I received a phone call here at church from a company that does some inspections for the church and the person on the other end wanted to set up a time for one of those inspections. The person first wanted to set a time for July 1, but I said that I could not do it on that day. The person then stated her expectation, which was that the reason I could not do it that day was because it is a Monday and ministers take Mondays off. That was what she expected me to say. She was taken back and said, “Oh!” when I said that I do not take off Mondays, but that Saturday is my day off. Although the expectation was that I take Mondays off, the reality is that for 41 years of ministry, I have always had my day off as Saturday. It does not always work out that way, but that was and still is my posted day off.
As I thought about that conversation, I thought about the many expectations of us that people make. And I thought about our lives as Christ-followers, that in our behaviors there should be many times that the reality is not the expectation. There are many expectations that people make for which we do not have to follow. Let me give you a couple of examples.
A person does something mean to us and even very hurtful. The expectation of the world is that we will respond with an attitude of unforgiveness and even revenge. But we can defy the expectation by turning the other cheek and forgiving the person and being kind to them.
When a person disagrees with our point of view, especially one that is contrary to scripture the expectation of the world is that we will rant and rave and become judgmental. But we can defy the expectation by engaging in a loving, gentle conversation about the differences in view, with a hope to seek to understand their view and help them understand our view, and perhaps persuade them.
There are many other examples we could mention as to how we can surprise people by not falling into their expectation of how we will behave. Jesus did not follow the world’s expectations. He lived a holy and different life.
Let me give one other example. There are many times in certain situations that we behaved, or reacted over and over in a way that was not pleasing to God and/or sinful. And what has happened over the years, when that same situation comes up, those around us now expect us to behave in that same old way. We need to ask the Holy Spirit to help us not react that same old way and instead react the way God would want us to react. In so doing, we will hear, “Oh, I didn’t see that coming.” “Oh, I didn’t expect you to react that way.”
Let us defy the negative expectations that people have of us, or Christ-followers in general, and do what Jesus would do.
In Christ Alone
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