What are you expecting from God: Romans 8:28

I saw this question the other day and it got me thinking.  Some of the responses to it (it was on a forum) didn’t resonate with me.  And so I thought more about it.

Why do people leave Jesus?  Why do people seemingly lose their faith?

Perhaps they do for the same reasons that people leave any relationship…

Unmet expectations 

Maybe people have in their minds a picture of what the relationship is supposed to be.  Maybe that picture was painted by someone else other than Christ.  Maybe people feel like they have let Him down and so “let Him go” like those who say “I don’t deserve you” to a friend or a romantic interest.  I don’t know.  But I wonder… can you ever leave Jesus?  Can you ever completely cut ties with Him?  Can you ever say “I’m done,” “I am moving on.”

When people feel like there is a burden on them, then they feel like they are owed something.  When they feel like there are requirements, then they feel like their needs to be reward.  When they approach their relationship to Jesus as other relationships that have a cause-and-effect or a give-and-take dynamic I think that they are only standing with one foot in the gates.  They are waiting to get something else in order to enter into His gates with praise.  I am not condemning anyone for this.  I am just trying to understand it.  It is natural for us, as humans, to resist.  We are hesitant.  We have all experienced times when we jumped in too quick and got hurt.  So we are guarded. 

But I believe Christ is patient.  I believe He stands at that gate as long as necessary for those who would have only one foot in.  I believe that, when it settles in someone’s heart that “wait a minute, He gave His life for mine so that I can live forever with Him… what else do I expect?” then they can truly enter His gates with praise.  They can truly release all expectations that they might have brought with them, and receive all they He wants to give.

As effective followers of Christ, we ought to be very careful of what expectations we set for people and what expectations we give them to have about Jesus.  We need to be honest.  We need to tell them, “guess what… life is hard… the world can be a terrible place… but He has overcome the world.” 

He never said that bad things wouldn’t happen… just that He would “work all things together for good, for those who love God, for those who are the called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28

Expect Him to keep His word.  Know His Word so that you can have correct expectations.

SDG