Theology Thursday 12 - Change Expectations

I’m starting a study group of Francis Chan’s book Crazy Love next week and I’m really excited about it. I’ve read the book before but, looking back, I didn’t invest as much in the book as I probably should have. I know a lot of people whose lives have been changed by God through that book, but I didn’t experience anything like that when I read it. I think that had more to do with my approach and lackadaisical attitude toward the book than anything else.

We should live with the expectation that God is going to work, that God is going to challenge us, that God is going to transform us. Often I find myself living without that expectation. I just go through my life thinking I’ll be the same person tomorrow, two months from now, and two years from now, that I am today; but God doesn’t view us that way. In Philippians we’re told that he began a good work in us and will continue that work until we’re complete. Unless we’ve reached completion, we should live with the expectation that God will transform us.

Maybe that means simply beginning every day with the mindset that God will change us, that there is some way, no matter how small, that we can be a different person tomorrow than we are today. Maybe it just takes a small reminder that God is doing a good work within us and we should expect to see the fruit of that labor. I don’t know exactly how live with the expectation that God can change us, but I’d like to figure it out; living with that expectation seems like a hopeful way to live.

How can we live with the expectation that God will change us?