Sometimes I have problems with my expectations. For instance, I expect that we are going to have a quick, uneventful WalMart run. (I know, shouldn’t I have learned by now?) But that never seems to happen. Or I expect my husband to be perfect (like me, right?) but he’s not. You get the picture. In life, one has to learn how to deal with unmet expectations. As a Christian, there is a deeper issue to consider. What do I set my hopes on? Do I set them on “things” of this world? Like the fence I would love to have in my back yard? Or financial security? Or another baby? Or being the perfect wife and mother?
Today I was reading Mark Devers The New Testament: Promises Kept. He says, “Many of our problems come from attaching our hopes to things that were not made to bear them … as the one who made us, [God] knows how we work best. He knows what we should hope for, and he has set those very things in the Bible so that we can fix our hopes upon them.”
I pray as I read this book and study the New Testament that I will hope for the things that God desires me to hope for. It’s not easy to put aside what I want, what I expect and what I desire. But isn’t that what the Christian life is about, daily dying to self? May I find new hopes in Him and His Word – hopes that will be met because the Bible is full of “Promises Made and Promises Kept.”
5 comments:
I *so* needed to hear this, this morning Jenn! Thank you!
I have noticed that it is sometimes easier to hope for things of this world than to sit back and trust God to fulfill our hopes and dreams. His dreams for us may not include those things we are hoping for in this world. It is hard to remember that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.
Amy - I needed to read it today too.
Kelly - that's so true. I can see you've been reading Piper!
Great, great reminder - I needed to hear this today. :-)
Thank you so much for sharing what God is teaching you. It seems I am tested often in this area of "where am I placing my trust?"
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