Single and Whole

Bringing Us Back to Focus

Maybe you have never thought about this before, but everything you desire and expect from life comes from some foundational source: God, the world, or a mixture thereof. This mixture of foundational sources for our expectations is one of the results of the fall in Eden. There is a spark for every fire, and every expectation has a root. We must be careful to examine upon what we build our expectations. If it is on the world, we are bound to be disappointed and always looking for something more. Even if it is a mixture, we are still on dangerous ground because when you start to mix God’s promises with the world’s promises, you end up blaming God for breaking promises He never really gave. Or you could become disappointed that promises you expected to be answered in the world’s form of a timely manner, weren't. In that situation you could end up with the same problem that Abraham and Sarah had: taking things into your own hands and finding a way to “help” God keep His promise. (see Genesis 16) God does not need our help in His promise keeping; He will use us, but we must be completely open to His leading, which includes timing. Sometimes we must be willing to just stand patiently and let the Lord show His greatness in our lives. This may take a lot longer than we had hoped or anticipated, but it does not mean it will not happen. God’s “word is not void.” (Isaiah 55:11)

We must keep in mind that God-given desires for who we want to be and who we are destined to be will be fulfilled as long as we live a life fully submitted to Him; although perhaps it will not be fulfilled in the way the world, we, or our families have ever expected. He does not call us to have selfish expectations for our lives but to set our expectations on Him—that He will be holy, good, just, and faithful. All else in our lives should take a place of less worth under Him (really meaning no worth except as He gives it). For nothing in this world has any lasting value apart from Him. Jesus should be our expectation. Only in a life lived through Him will He groom and cultivate our desires and hopes. He will not only bless us but He will even bless the world through us.

As we consider our expectations, what have we allowed to be at the root of who we are? Around what do we base our whole entire world? Upon what are we basing our beliefs? I hope we have discovered our foundation to be the true source of Life (Jesus) and that He will be the only One on whom we build our life expectations. Because if we build on anything less than the Word of Life (Jesus), we will end up with our lives as the house spoken of in the New Testament that toppled and fell “and the ruin of that house was great.” (Luke 6:49)

My best friend, mentioned earlier, recently shared that God is teaching her who He is more and more, and through this she is learning who she is in Him. When we begin to see ourselves how He sees us, we learn who we truly are in Christ. This light brings clarity to how we should live and what really has eternal importance. She told me that she is beginning to see herself through God’s eyes, and she better understands He made her the way she is for a purpose, her boyish likes and all. But she is also learning to bring to His feet the parts of her that do not line up with the holiness of God—to let Him burn away the wretched parts. This is something we must all do if we desire to live and have our being in Him. It is not a process we can skip.