Great Expectations

Have you ever been disillusioned? Have you ever thought things were one way only to discover things were something else altogether? It seems like a lot of people are “deconstructing” their faith these days. Many are drifting from orthodox Christianity to a more “liberal” Christianity, if you can call it that. Others are leaving the church altogether. Why is this happening? I don’t pretend to know all the reasons why. To be sure, many of these folks fall into the “they went out from us, but they were not really of us” (1 John 2:19) category. Others, presuming to know the will and ways of God accuse Jesus as Martha did, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21). It’s not that Martha didn’t believe God. Quite the contrary, her lamenting at the death of her brother proved she had a deep belief that Jesus was able to keep such a thing from happening. Her accusation betrays her false expectations. Do you have false expectations of Jesus? Are you disappointed because you thought things were supposed to go a certain way and they didn’t? Others have heard this teacher or that one say, “the Bible says,” only to discover later that the Bible didn’t actually say what that famous teacher said it did. Or maybe it did “say” that, but it didn’t “mean” what they said it meant.

I must confess, I have been somewhat weary as of late. Weary of all the voices out there supposedly speaking for God. Sometimes people think they are mad at God when really they are just mad when they find out that the god of their own creation doesn’t exist. Unmet expectations are dangerous. They’re dangerous in any relationship. People will fail you. Programs will fail you. But God and His word will never fail you. It has been rightly said that a “Scripture out of context is a pretext.” James 3:1 says, “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” That’s sobering isn’t it? Perhaps we should be more careful in the way we wield the sword of the Spirit. It is the Word of God that stands forever, not some popular teacher’s interpretation. Be careful who you listen to. Be careful of your expectations. Don’t be mad at God for something He never said.