Jesus will always give us more than we expect. Most of us have been brought up on a reward system making it difficult to believe in God’s unconditional love. Our expectations are bound to what we think we deserve. Jesus, however, will not limit Himself to what we believe we deserve. If that were the criteria, He never would have died for our sins. He had no obligation to sacrifice Himself, but as He spoke to Nicodemus, “God so loved the world…”
How would it change our relationship to God if we believed Jesus will always give us more than we expect? Would we adore such a person? Would we want to do all we could to please him? Jesus is not a Santa Claus with no interest in maturing us. He loves us too much to leave us as immature children but He shapes our lives in ways that bring ultimate satisfaction, always giving us more than we expect.
THE MATTER OF EXPECTATIONS
Do expectations matter? At the initiation of His ministry, Jesus announced that He was to preach the gospel to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the captives, recover sight for the blind and set the oppressed free (Luke 4:18). Jesus did not say He hoped to preach the gospel to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the captives, recover sight for the blind and set the oppressed free, but He was anointed to do these things. If Jesus had only hoped to preach the gospel to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the captives, recover sight for the blind and set the oppressed free, would He have taught in the synagogues and on the mountains, commanded demons to flee and sickness to be healed?
Expectations matter. In our prayer life, for example, what difference does it make if we expect to receive what we’re asking God to give us or only hope it will happen? If we don’t see results after praying for a period of time, what will keep me praying? How will our expectations figure into praying until we receive an answer? Author Jon Bloom offers a useful insight observing that we cannot approach prayer as a service transaction. Prayer, Bloom declares, is relational.[i]
[i] Bloom, J. Unanswered prayers are invitations from God, Desiring God https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/unanswered-prayers-are-invitations-from-god, accessed 3.2.2023.
THE MATTER OF TIME
Jesus lived His life in constant contact with His Father, often withdrawing to be with Him through prayer. Jesus’ expectations for His life aligned with the Father’s will. Without this close relationship Jesus could not have known the Father’s will. As Jesus, our expectations must be shaped by spending time with the Father. This is not to say that diligently punching our time card with God brings answers. That attitude would take us back to a service transaction. God wants an authentic relationship with us, not one ruled by duty, a level of closeness that marks our most treasured friendships. The costliest item will be our time. Time spent knowing God, not presenting our list of requests. The more we know God, the more our expectations will mirror His expectations.
Jesus knew the Father better than anyone else and, consequently, His expectations perfectly represented the Father’s expectations. “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” was the expectation for His life. He knew better than anyone what this would look like and how it would happen.
THE MATTER OF TALK
Jesus’ talk about Himself reflected these expectations. For instance, He proclaimed, “If the Son makes you free, you are free indeed (John 8:36)”, “Come unto me and I will give you rest (Matthew 11: 28)”and “He who believes in Me, out of His heart will flow rivers of living water (John 7: 38).” There was no hedging or vacillating when Jesus claimed to set us free, give us rest and fill us with living water. He spoke from an expectancy of what He knew to be true—that He could bring the kingdom of God to earth by setting us free, giving us rest and filling us with living water.
God’s work in our lives can be advanced or limited by our talk. He is not asking us to speak our feelings but to voice the truth of His word over our circumstances, but how often does our talk reflect low expectations that fail to reflect the truth of His word?
THE MATTER OF JOY
Hebrews 1:9 tells us that the Father anointed the Son with gladness more than all His companions. When Jesus came to earth, He did not strive to create a life outside of the Father’s will with expectations that mirrored His Father’s will. Jesus lived perfectly content, full of joy. But how could this be with the cross looming before Him?
Jesus did not endure the cross from obligation or responsibility. Scripture tells us that “He endured the cross for the joy set before Him (Hebrews 12:2).” What was this joy? Jesus, the Father, and the Spirit shared the same expectations. Jesus would bring the kingdom of God to earth, end the dominion of darkness and remove the separation between God and His creation. This was the joy set before Jesus, enabling Him to endure a horrific death that we can only begin to perceive.
Jesus was also conscious that He was to be the heir of all things, sit at the exalted place on the Father’s right hand forever and ever, possess the nations and the ends of the earth and be the “King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Hebrews 1, Psalm 2, Revelation 17:14; 16:19).” For Jesus, dying on a cross before a mocking crowd, these expectations could have evaporated, but He cried out “It is finished.” He alone knew what was actually happening despite the circumstances. The Father’s expectations for His life were becoming a reality.
The Father’s expectations for our lives are no less than for the Son. As Paul characterizes in Romans, “If God did not spare His own Son, how shall He not also give us all things (Romans 8:32)?” This is the basis for expectations that motivate dying to self and a game plan we have constructed for our life.
THE PAINTING
None of the abstract forms in the twelve panels can be identified with known forms such as squares, rectangles, triangles, rhomboids or trapezoids. Lacking the stability of recognizable geometry, their unforeseen nature animates them with liveliness. The expectations for these forms is one of difference, idiosyncrasy and singularity, generating a robust form of being. Is that not related to the Lord’s expectations over us? Divorced from human reasoning, logic, orchestration, we can’t predict the shape of God’s plans for us but we do know, that we will have LIFE—the abundant life that Jesus sacrificed His own life to give us.
Lord Jesus, forgive me for living my life with low expectations of You, When I face a problem or concern, help me to overtly ask, what do I expect of God in this situation? Do I expect Him to let me struggle alone or do I expect Him to move mountains? Make asking these types of questions a habit until I am transformed by the renewing of my mind.
Lord Jesus, I cannot imagine You carrying the same low expectations of the Father that sometimes, maybe often, distinguish my expectations of Him. It would be embarrassing to think of You in this way. There is such a great distance between the way You lived Your life and the terms of my life, but I will hold to the promise that I am predestined to be conformed to Your image. You will make it happen. Help me to partner and cooperate with You, not be a hindrance.
After I leave the prayer closet, show me when I am falling into recurrent patterns of worry and anxiety because my expectations of You have slipped.
Rehearsing my problems can be so much easier than asking, how “What do I expect of God over this problem? Let this question become a mantra for myself until I find my thinking transformed.
Let the truth of Your word shape my expectations. When You say;
Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.
Let these words be the foundation of my expectations, not fear and worry.
Lord Jesus, we expect too little from You. Show us how to base our expectations on Your goodness rather than our measurements of what we have earned or deserve. Upset our expectations of You, turn them inside out, upside down. Let us imagine what You have for us as predicated on Your generous nature, not our worthiness-throw that out the window. Let us honor You with expectant hearts.
Sydney Walker, March 9, 2023
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