Stewarding Our Expectations
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
John 11:17-34 (NIV)
Both Mary and Martha said the same thing to Jesus when He arrived after the death of their brother Lazarus. “Lord, if You had been here, he would not have died.” You can hear the unmet expectation in their words: We expected you to be here earlier.
Jesus checks their expectation so compassionately and skillfully, essentially saying, “Lazarus will rise again. You all only saw Me as a miracle worker, but now you will be able to see me as the resurrection and the life. You've watched me operate only on this side of the veil in temporality, where life is being lived, but now I'm going to show you the reach and length and height and depth of my power and authority, as I reach past the veil into death itself.”
Here's what I want you to consider today: Faith is not a license to ignore the need to steward your expectations.
You can believe Jesus for anything, believe Him for everything, make all of your requests known to Him. But the story of these sisters teaches us that faith has to be stewarded by us to consider Jesus's fulfillment of prophecy and His obedience to God's will, not just our personal desires and passions.
Faith is the license to believe God-size things, but it has to be stewarded by us to ensure that we don't let our personal expectations become bigger than God's will in our lives. You can believe God for big things, but it has to be stewarded enough that your expectations don’t make you forget that God is sovereign.
Faith is not a license to let our expectations run wild and unchecked with no filter, no strainer, no auditing, no accountability. You have the right to ask for whatever you want and believe God for it, but that does not give you the license to think your expectations should always be met.
Jesus does not have to treat your expectations as an eternal urgency, because sometimes His sovereignty trumps your expectations.
What expectations do you need to steward today in light of God’s bigger plan?
Switching Price Tags
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
Matthew 6:19-20 (NIV)
A man named Tony Campolo once wrote a book called “Who Switched the Price Tags?” The premise of the book centered on a plan that he and his friend devised when they were young. For a Halloween trick, they planned to break into the local merchandise store. They didn’t plan to steal anything; instead, their idea was to switch all the price tags.
They anticipated with glee the chaos that would ensue the following morning when costly things were marked as inexpensive, and the cheaper merchandise was labeled at a premium.
Thankfully, the two rascals never carried out their plan, but our enemy the devil has played this very trick on us spiritually speaking. He has changed the price tags in our culture so that what is of little value somehow seems immensely important, and the things we really should esteem highly are treated as though they have little worth.
Sometimes I think that one of the worst consequences of being fallen creatures is our failure to understand what really is vital in and to our lives.
Don't let this happen to you. Don't let Satan switch the price tags on you and make you cheapen the things in your life that God says are valuable. And don’t be tempted to make great sacrifices for things that God says are fleeting. If we seek first God’s kingdom, everything else will fall into its proper place and perspective.
Bent Over with Burden
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28 (NKJV)
We all live with constant reminders of how broken life is and how burdened we are as a result.
Every payday, every raise cycle, every family gathering, every set of clothes to be washed, every leaky faucet, every time the car starts shaking and shivering, every eerie silence in the house, every relationship that tanks, every plaguing health condition, every time the news announces that another person has been shot by the police, every phone call that demands something of you…
With all of these things, you are bent over with burden.
But no matter how much life has taken, no matter how much you are mentally scarred, no matter how broken your heart is, no matter how painful your life's predicament—you have one thing to give to God: your capacity to show up one more time.
If that's all you have—hear me, child of God—it’s more than enough to put you in the perfect place for your condition to change.
Don't attempt to control the environment you're in. Stop trying to calculate how to space out your mood and presence and effort and energy. No, just show up. If that's all you have, then just show up, and Jesus will respond by letting you know that blessings are eventual. That’s how your optimism is fed. That’s how your faith is matured. That’s how your convictions are deepened, your resolve is fueled, and your vision is sharpened.
He notices your journey, your struggles, your bent-over condition—and He offers you rest.
Reminders of Your Past
So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.
Galatians 4:7 (NIV)
You may never be able to detach from certain aspects of your past. There will be reminders of the darkness you used to live in. But those experiences and decisions and mistakes serve to point to the light of Christ’s presence in your life now.
So don't be ashamed to own your past, because it only highlights your growth since then. These reminders will be interpreted by people differently based on their value systems, so learn how to meet people where they are, but don't let them make you ashamed of the change in your life.
Like the healed man who was told by Jesus to carry his mat and walk, you are carrying your mat because you're no longer lying on it. You're carrying it because you're no longer restricted by it. So hold it and carry it—not with shame but with thanksgiving.
And if the people around you—based on their value system—still want to categorize you as an outcast, that’s up to them. But for your part, don’t be afraid to own where you've come from, own what you've been through, own what you have survived, and don't be ashamed to testify, “Yep, that was me. And it almost took me out, but thanks be to God for His mercy, I can stand and testify that His grace is still amazing.”
The Lord has decided to set you free, and He gives you the chance to carry the weight of your past in gratitude when the world wants you to carry it in guilt. Jesus lets us carry it in thanksgiving when the world wants us to carry it in shame.
What kind of weight will your past be as you carry it through life—a weight of embarrassment and regret and shame, or a weight of redemption and growth and progress?
Keep Showing Up
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Galatians 6:9 (NIV)
There are times in life when each and every one of us—because of weariness or a bad attitude or selfishness or whatever—feels defeated and deflated. Our resolve to keep fighting, keep working, keep doing what we are called to do, is simply spent. I have felt it myself, even in the work of ministry.
But do you know what? Even if I didn't feel like praising and preaching, even if I didn't feel like congregating with anybody, I knew that if I could just show up and give Him the offering of my presence, He could make up the difference between where I was and where I should be.
And I can tell you there have been many a weekend or a weeknight that God blessed me as a reward for the offering of my simply showing up.
Right now, you may be living in a state of hardship, trial, weariness, constant discomfort, or longing for wholeness. You may be dealing with chronic pain or a sense of overwhelming discouragement. If that is the case for you, know this: One of your greatest gifts is to keep showing up.
You can call it spiritual persistence. You can call it holy tenacity. You can call it enduring faith. You can call it perseverance. I don't care what theological tag you put on it. The point is simple: One of the greatest gifts that salvation has given you is the gift to keep showing up. No matter how long you've been bent over and suffering and ignored, I guarantee that God is worth your not quitting.
I'd rather crawl through life in my pain than to give up on God, because the one thing I know is that God will never give up on me.
Make a choice now that even if you have no strength left, your optimism is waning, and your trust is dissipating, if all you have left is the ability to show up, you will count Jesus worth at least that offering.
