“But
this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and
you shall be my people: and walk you in all the ways that I have commanded you,
that it may be well to you” (Jeremiah 7:23 NIV).
We
can all do things for many reasons. You
can go on a diet to lose weight. You can
work hard to accomplish your goals. You
can save money in order to purchase things that you think you want or
need. We do some of the things we do
with expectations as to the results that come from doing them.
What
happens if the diet fails or your savings have to be spent on the
unexpected? Sometimes we get upset and
might give up on diets or we may just quit our savings plan when things don’t
go the way we expected them to. There just are times when we find our
expectations not coming true or watch as our hopes fade away.
The
people that surrounded Jesus as He lived on the earth followed a course of
actions in their religious faith in much the same way. They did things for God and unto God basically
trying hard at times, following the rules, expecting blessings and rewards from
their efforts. They saw themselves as
God’s people and they expected Him to bless them because of their birthright
and also because of religious works and piety. Of course, obedience does bring
blessing but didn’t want to learn about what God desired, they wanted Him to
give them what they thought they deserved for living as a good Jewish person
should.
Christians
today can fall into the same trap. Christians can look at Jesus Christ as a
means to meet our expectations for our desires and wishes as we do religious
things for Him. When our expectations for blessings don’t quite work out or the
faith road turns out a bit different than what we expected, it might be
tempting to lose hope because we put our
trust in a system of religious effort and piety just like the people in the
time of Jesus.
Our
hope is in trusting God and the saving grace filled relationship we have with
Him through Jesus Christ. It is a matter
of giving God your whole heart. Our
efforts in regards to faith … rest in loving Him, following Him and loving
others with His love. We can expect His care, His provision, His abiding and
our salvation as absolutes and secure as rock.
The blessing of knowing Him and know He will change us by His Holy
Spirit is and never abandon us now or for eternity are the best expectations in
the world and the only ones that will always be true.
“‘Love
the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it:
‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matthew 22:37-39 NIV).
Suggested
Reading Deuteronomy 6 & Jeremiah 7
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