Expectations

 If I go to the store and purchase a gallon of milk, come home, and instead of milk, the jug is filled with vinegar, I have every right to be upset, go back to the store, and return the mislabeled product. For the most part, vendors get it right, and when you buy something labeled milk, milk is what you get, but there have been instances when either the machinery went awry, or an inattentive employee hit the wrong button, and you don’t get what you paid for, what you expected, or what the signage on the box insisted was inside.

The packaging is irrelevant. What’s inside counts. What’s inside determines the value of something and not the box itself. If you have children, you know how frustrating it is to see them open a birthday present you paid good money for and then proceed to play with the box as though that was the prize. You try to get them to play with the dollhouse you’ve managed to put together after an hour’s worth of trying to fit hinge A into slot B, but the box is more entertaining to them, at least for the time being.

We take something being as advertised for granted until it’s not. When our expectations are not met, we react negatively because we feel as though we were bamboozled and someone, whether intentionally or otherwise, tried to hoodwink us.

I’ve heard horror stories of parents buying the hot toy of the season for their child from a third party only to get home, open the box, and find a brick inside instead of a video game console.

It doesn’t matter how well you wrap it or how much glitter and bows you put on it; eventually, what’s inside will have to be made visible to the world and either confirm that the contents were as advertised or they weren’t. It’s why we have such an aversion to individuals who profess Christ and turn out to be nothing more than sleazy opportunists who use Him to advance themselves without ever knowing Him, loving Him, or obeying Him. We feel like we got scammed and don’t like that feeling, especially when we look up to the individual and perhaps even aspire to be like them someday.

If the old man is still in there, eventually, he will bubble to the surface. Eventually, he will come out, whether in word or action and befoul the reputation of any individual who thought they could get away with putting on a show and masquerade. The difference between a real Christian and a pretend one is that the inward parts match the outer actions. They are not a bad tree pretending to grow good fruit but a good tree producing good fruit.

To those who think fruit doesn’t matter, remember, it was Jesus who said that every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. It’s not an autostereogram. If you squint at what Jesus said and look at it from a different angle, it won’t say something different.

I don’t know about you, but if I was someone just playing church, playing at being saved, playing at being sanctified, thinking I could get away with it because so many others are, then happened upon the words of Jesus, I’d be downright terrified.

You can Hillsong all the day long and still be told to depart. You can even call Him Lord and still be told He never knew you. We cannot overlook biblical realities simply because they make the lukewarm uncomfortable.

James 3:13-16, “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.”

There is godly wisdom, and then there is demonic wisdom. There is wisdom that descends from above; then there is wisdom that is earthly and sensual, leading to confusion, strife, and every evil thing. You know the source of a thing by the results it produces. If a certain wisdom produces bitter envy, self-seeking, and confusion, then you know the source thereof by the fruit it produced in a congregation, a family, or an individual.

The wisdom that comes from above is neither self-seeking nor will it lie against the truth to gain an advantage. It is pure. It is meek and conducts its works in humility because it knows the source from whence it flows and that no matter how grand or intricate the vessel is, it’s still just a vessel. The contents give the vessel value, and the moment the vessel loses sight of this truth, it corrupts its purpose.

If you find yourself in a situation and conclude that what you would say is different than what Jesus would say, and what you would do is different than what the Holy Spirit would lead you to do, and you pick you over Him, then your wisdom does not descend from above, and what’s more, you know better yet still choose to walk in your path rather than His.

How simple things would be if there were no self-serving men in the pulpit. How effective would the church be if the message were singularly Christ rather than our particular denominational flavor and insistence that to get to Christ, you must pass through us? Those who came before us changed the world because they were not the focus of their work and endeavors but rather Christ. Then again, what did they know? They died broke, bleeding, bruised, and broken, and not a single Christian university is named after them.

God and man measure success very differently. Whose eyes do you want to be successful in?

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.