On every battlefield a commander often tries to out think his opponent by expecting the enemy to do exactly what they normally do so he modifies his plan of attack to gain the element of surprise. What happens when that enemy doesn’t actually do what has always been done? Usually it ends in a massive, chaotic logistical problem and could even end in loss of life by subordinates. How does this seem relevant to everyday life for a civilian and Christians all over the world?
What is an expectation exactly? The Webster’s Dictionary defines expectation as: The act or state of looking forward or anticipating. To the common person it could be simply that, but it may also include some kind of emotional connection to that particular event that is being anticipated. The major issue with having expectations is that the world is not perfect and expectations rarely, if ever come to full fruition. So what happens if expectations don’t happen at all? What if the exact opposite occurs? The situation, event, or person may become a chaotic emotional roller coaster.
How does this apply to a Christian? Every day is spiritual battlefield and it is up to us to sway the fight for good or for bad. Often times we have certain expectations in the world around us. Some expectations could be built around an occupational promotion, a roommates actions, a relationship, a vacation, our cars, alarm clocks, and could even be as small as an expected phone call that’s doesn’t ever come. Each of these situations could be very small and insignificant to some but they have a very real possibility to derail someone’s day completely. The big issue with being a Christian and having expectations is how we handle ourselves in these moments. Even behind closed doors there is always someone watching us and our actions for when our lives become derailed. We are a living examples for Christ. When the world is crashing around us, many look to us to be the oaks of righteousness that God calls us to be. What happens to those that look to us for support and we are the ones who have been derailed? We begin to lose credibility in their eyes and it is hard to gain that back. We are merely human but the world views us with a magnifying glass and balks at every miss step that we take. Satan wants nothing more than to attack and destroy our credibility at every turn. To make matters worse as we grow in our faith and walk close to God and really begin to do His work Satan moves us up on his most wanted list. (Congratulations you are on a HIT LIST) This means he throws even more hazards our way to break us down. So now every little detail of life becomes a possible derailment if we don’t have our eyes where they need to be.
Over the last few weeks, this has been a major issue for me. I have had many expectations come and go in the last few months. As Gods promises come close to being achieved Satan has tried even harder to insert his own mess of lies, miss communications, missed placed expectations and bad travel conditions. He has influenced schedules, events and even daily errands of my surrounding friends and family to throw me off balance in hopes of getting me to be a bad witness for Christ. Flexibility has become a staple of my life recently. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, however at first those spiritual muscles were not stretched, warmed up, and in fact they had not even been used for quite awhile. If it wasn’t for my friends being solid in their flexibility I would have crashed and burned. Lucky for us God grants us grace which allows a chance to recover from the pitfalls of today and start fresh tomorrow.
Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
