Expectations

I wanna do a little low budget film of something that happened to me years ago. I was just wrapping up our family night out on the Tsawwassen Ferry Causeway. We'd had ourselves a nice open fire, and enjoyed a couple of big gulps from 711. With the ocean water being readily available I thought of a less boring way to douse the fire out. My plan was to insert the big gulp cup full of sea water into the middle of the white hot coals of the fire. It was so hot that any wood that I placed in the center of the fire would instantly be ablaze. I reasoned that if I put the big gulp cup (a cardboard cup coated with wax for those of you who don't know what a big gulp cup is) into the center of the fire it would burst into flames, and the water would gush all over the fire and put it out!

I went over to water's edge, filled up my cup to about 3/4 of an inch from the brim, and grabbing it by the top, lowered it into the center of the fire. To my amazement, the results were not what I expected! The cup didn't burst! The only part that burned was the portion of the cup that was above the water line. The rest of the cup didn't even go black, or scorch! Soon the water was boiling, and as it boiled, the water evaporated and the water line was always at the brim, because the fire would steadily burn away any exposed cup from the evaporation!

There was something that I didn't know, that was obvious!

Let me cut out of the story for a second to venture over to our daily lives. We do things all the time based on our limited knowledge, and when the results don't line up with our expectations, we become frustrated. We apply some poorly thought out solution, and when we're out of idea's and lame brained solutions, we become angry. We probably also become discouraged, and this leads us to do some pretty strange things. Self destructive things! But worse than that we  usually take out our frustrations on those around us. We complain about the leadership of our local governments, civic, provincial, and national. We look around at people. The boss, our co-workers, and customers and assess their part in the blame. Soon we have stock piled a load of evidence of why things aren't going according to our plans, and we end up pretty miserable frustrated individuals! We fail to see that our expectations are based on our limited understanding of things. We fail to listen to God's word!

In Matthew 6:33-34 Jesus punctuates his teaching by pointing to the one and only solution to our daily worries. What is the relationship between worries and expectations? All our strivings of yesterday didn't add up to our expectations. And we reasonably come to the conclusion that we are woefully out of hope regarding tomorrow's worries! I say reasonably because it is our ability to reason that we so often rely upon! Who can blame us! Shouldn't we rely on our reason! Isn't that what sets us apart from the animals!

NO! It is found in Genesis chapter one, and it is found here in Matthew 6! It is our place in God's heart! It is our place in this world in which we live! We are made in his image. We are made to fellowship with God! To know him, and to daily be seeking him, and knowing him! That is a two way dynamic, and he always gives us what to do!

"30... O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

We need to abandon reason, and embrace faith! Reason is the natural man, and faith is the spiritual man! Its all done with the same mind, but the Christian has a renewed mind, and not only that but a continuously renewing mind! (see Romans 12) Our part in this isn't what we might think. Its in filling our mind with the word of God (see Psalm 119:11) We store up the word of God in our hearts, and God himself applies the truth of his word to our hearts through the ministry of the person of the Holy Spirit. (see John 14:26)

Read over Galatians chapter 5. Paul speaks of this battle between the two aspects of the inner man. The spiritual self and the flesh. We are told here to keep in step with the Spirit! And that means to heed the indications of the spirit within us. There are two lists given, one is the obvious deeds of the flesh, and the other is the attributes of what is of the spirit of God. Paul calls these the fruit of the spirit, and the greek word used is singular. I personally think that this signifies that it is the attributes of Christ himself that we are to be in harmony with. That if any of the flesh is at work, then we need to be careful to seek his cleansing, and empowerment to overcome that work of the flesh. This again is HIS work. He does it (Ephesians 2:8-10 and 1 John 1:9)

And what then becomes our expectation? That he will guide us, and lead us! That he will always be there! And those are the promises we stand upon! And if we know that the way we got to "Point A" is by listening to HIM, then we can be confident that he will continue to lead us. And by his grace its never too late! Though at times we find ourselves in a HELL of our own making, we can trust that he'll lead us out!

Now, back to our Big Gulp cup. The fire kept burning, the water kept evaporating, and the cup gradually disappeared like a candle. The water into the air, and the paper into smoke and ash!

but why?!? Paper burns at 451 degrees Fahrenheit, and water BOILS at 212 degrees Fahrenheit!  The paper cannot burn until it reaches 451 F, and the water's presence in the cup keeps the cup below that! The maximum temperature the cup can get to with the water in it, is 212 F. So, regardless of how hot the fire is, the cup will not burn until the water has dissipated. This scientific fact is used to keep engines cool, using coolant that is capable of much higher temperatures than water, and the radiator that cools the liquid as it circulates through the engine's cooling system. Survival experts will tell you that if you're stuck in the woods with a paper bag full of eggs, use the paper bag to boil the eggs! Its possible! I've tried it!

So, if we come up against an unexpected situation, we need to accept that there is something we don't know. Accept that we are not in control of people, places or things. In any given situation or circumstance, in our relationships, and daily interactions with others, if things don't turn out the way we expected, then we need to give it a re-think, and find out what we don't know . . . and the place we need to look is God's word! If any of you lacks wisdom ask God! (see James 1:4-6) That's prayer!

Eventually we may even get ahead of the game, and ask God first :)