The Let Down

Probably the most disheartening aspects of the human life is the let down. That is, when you have expectations that are not met by any number of people, places, or things. It could be your first trip to Disney Land (that met my expectations: crazy fun), your friend that was late (unfortinatly, I'm usually "that" friend), or possibly the Toronto Maple Leafs (...sigh...).

Example: my first experience of bubble tea. On the walk over to the restaurant, the group I was with went on and on about how bubble tea was the greatest drink since vanilla coke (I love vanilla coke...). We ordered our drinks and the expectation continued to mount until I finally held the drink in my hand. For those of you who don't know bubble tea, its very unusual unless you have been properly prepared for it. Sure it was good but it was bascially a more expensive milk shake with disgusting globs in it. I left the store with my wallet lighter and my crest fallen, what had happened? It was good, but not good enough.

My life decided to hit me with another one of those experiences recently and it got me thinking about not meeting expectations and how it can permenantly turn us off from something. I might have been satisfied had it not been that my expectations had set a standard that it couldn't meet. Doesn't that apply to God though? I mean, I was reading in Amos the past couple of nights and it continually discusses God's purity and the Israelites failure. Paul says in Romans 3 that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. God wanted us to be holy as he was holy (1 Peter) so that he could be in a relationship with him but, we let him down. How does "The Let Down" affect God? I mean, when I get let down, it can affect me for a long time and if its a person who has seriously let me down, it can have lasting impact on both ends of the relationship.

The awesome part of it? God completely stands this expectation on its head. Ephesians 2 says that "while we were still sinner Christ died for us". Did you catch it? the "still"? God responded kind to us, even when were the ones that had failed to meet the expectation. Once again, near the end of Romans 3, Paul talks about the free gift of grace that is offered to us and the redemption of sins by Christ. God's expectations of us were fair, yet he reached out after our own failure and despite of our sin and reversed our own expectations. God doesn't let expectations get in the way of what he's really after: us. God radical display of grace places the decision back to us and how we are going to respond to the gift.

I guess this means that in order to live a life that is seeking to follow Christ in all that I do, I need to stop with the expectations or when people fail remember God's reaction to the times that I don't measure up.