I've become convinced in the course of my ministry that one of the greatest challenges comes in the area of expectations. To be very blunt about it, everyone has them, but they aren't often expressed very directly. Usually, you only discover what someone else's expectation is when you have failed to live up to it, and that's when you face the consequences. The difficult thing is, it's really hard to live up to expectations when you don't really know what is expected of you.
Individuals have expectations, and in congregational life together, congregations have expectations. If you listen closely, you can sometimes figure out what those expectations are. For example, if you go to a church, and they talk about how great their particular style of worship is, you can probably read into that kind of statement that changes to their worship aren't going to be easily undertaken. The expectation is that they like what they are doing, and that it will remain as it is.
Now, as a minister, I would dearly love it if everyone had a true Gospel expectation to everything that we do as Christians. But I also know human nature enough to know that the sinful nature is also at work when it comes to our expectations. Sure, we may try to make it sound all nice and godly, but quite often, what we expect is guided by our sinful nature. And then, when that expectation isn't met, we often convey that fact in rather ungodly ways, especially if we choose to berate the person who broke our expectation, or if we choose to tarnish their reputation without actually talking to them about it.
The thing is, I've also come to another conclusion. A lot of us don't really even know what our expectations really are. In a sense, we don't know ourselves well enough to know what it is that we are actually looking for. And that creates a dangerous mix. If we don't know what our own expectations are, we really can't expect others to know them, and then, if others happen to break our expectations (that we aren't fully aware of in the first place), we more often than not resort to sinful expressions of our anger.
As a minister, I frequently remind myself that I am dealing with sinful people on a daily basis. I also remind myself that God has dealt with far worse expectations than what anyone will every expect of me. That's why I'm so thankful that God can forgive in such great ways, and am thankful for the new creation that He is constantly working in me (and all Christians) on a daily basis in our baptism. Thanks be to God in Christ Jesus.
Individuals have expectations, and in congregational life together, congregations have expectations. If you listen closely, you can sometimes figure out what those expectations are. For example, if you go to a church, and they talk about how great their particular style of worship is, you can probably read into that kind of statement that changes to their worship aren't going to be easily undertaken. The expectation is that they like what they are doing, and that it will remain as it is.
Now, as a minister, I would dearly love it if everyone had a true Gospel expectation to everything that we do as Christians. But I also know human nature enough to know that the sinful nature is also at work when it comes to our expectations. Sure, we may try to make it sound all nice and godly, but quite often, what we expect is guided by our sinful nature. And then, when that expectation isn't met, we often convey that fact in rather ungodly ways, especially if we choose to berate the person who broke our expectation, or if we choose to tarnish their reputation without actually talking to them about it.
The thing is, I've also come to another conclusion. A lot of us don't really even know what our expectations really are. In a sense, we don't know ourselves well enough to know what it is that we are actually looking for. And that creates a dangerous mix. If we don't know what our own expectations are, we really can't expect others to know them, and then, if others happen to break our expectations (that we aren't fully aware of in the first place), we more often than not resort to sinful expressions of our anger.
As a minister, I frequently remind myself that I am dealing with sinful people on a daily basis. I also remind myself that God has dealt with far worse expectations than what anyone will every expect of me. That's why I'm so thankful that God can forgive in such great ways, and am thankful for the new creation that He is constantly working in me (and all Christians) on a daily basis in our baptism. Thanks be to God in Christ Jesus.
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