All InSample

 Have you ever failed to meet your own expectations? Expectations are a double-edged sword. In the work world, we need them for our annual evaluations so we know if we’ve hit our employer’s needs and our goals. For me, there are these three boxes: Did I exceed expectations, meet expectations, or NOT meet expectations. Nobody wants to be in that last box!

But here’s the cool thing about God... He doesn’t have expectations of us. Since the beginning of time, we have always, and will always, check the “did not meet expectations” box. Some may give up and look to something else to bring them joy and a sense of success. Some may be run down from constantly trying to exceed expectations because they are always falling short. And that kind of life is tiresome and void of hope.

But good news! God loves us so much that He sent Jesus so we could finally throw these expectations off of ourselves and rest in His unconditional love for us, flaws and all. Now, does having no expectations mean we can do whatever we want? Not at all! God doesn’t play little mind games like we do by just having unspoken expectations. He gets straight to the point and shares His design and desire for our lives in the form of commands. John explains the difference between expectations and commands beautifully in 1 John 2:1-6.

"My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;  and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world."

We can’t meet the expectations of being sinless, so Jesus came to cover us. 

"By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, 'I have come to know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked."

Once we throw off the expectations we think others have of us and those we put on ourselves, then we refocus our energy into following His simple commands. That’s when we experience the true freedom of being truly and wholly devoted to Christ. These priorities are not expectations to miss and fall short of. These priorities are opportunities for us to follow His loving commands and see all He can do when we go all in!