Expectations
How can I expect to know God, how can I expect him to do anything for me/with me/through me if I’m not first doing what I can for myself? I’m not talking about success. I’m not talking about love. I’m not even talking about the feeling of peace. I’m talking about my part in the connection. I’m talking about character. I’m talking about work ethic, focus, and persistence to something beyond the bullshit insistence and triumphantism of happiness.
I can expect the dark and the bright times. I can expect and enjoy the repeated shock of cold water jumping into a stream. But without effort on my own part, without the willingness to step/dive/fall in, I can expect nothing in contrast from what I have now.
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someone i heard speak this weekend said “you cannot shine until you burn.” …that means we have to subject ourselves to His burning, be willing, prostrate ourselves in brokenness…before we can accomplish much…shine much and move forward. good thoughts. what we put in, is what we get out.
I think there’s some of both:
His initiative.
And ours.
I’m not sure where ours comes from. But I do know that I used to think I could just pray and He’d “make” it happen for me in a lot of areas. The older I get, the less inclined I am to that perspective.
I’m not sure when it happened, but sometime over the past year, I started to get really annoyed with myself for praying things like “make me holy” or “help me to love.” Of course, we need God’s help to do those things. The Lord’s Prayer says “deliver us from temptation,” but Paul writes “work out your own salvation.” Expecting God to do everything for us is a dangerous proposition. On the other hand, you say you’re “not talking about love,” so maybe I’m missing your point?
timmyjimi, my point might not be obvious enough, but I admit its not necessarily plain words. What I’m speaking of is much more the inward connection with the Great as opposed to the outward works.
Thanks for this post, I think that some times people expect God to “fall in their lap” and they forget that He has already taken initiative with us… the ball is now in our court. If we want to experience “shalom” we must do all we can to position ourselves to experience this reality. It is from such a posture that God “shows up…”
thanks!