Before I left to go on vacation last month, I was posting "The Top 10 Things God Will Never Say To You." I interrupted that so that I could post the videos about how sailing is a great metaphor for the grace walk. I indicated then that I would post the final two Top 10 videos when I came home.
I accidentally deleted the number two lie, so I'm going to give it to you in text form below. Then I'll go ahead and post number one here too.
To refresh your memory, here are the others:
The Top Ten Things God Will Never Say
10. Could you do Me a favor?
9. You’re getting on my last nerve.
8. Oops
7. Wow, I didn’t see that coming!
6. Tell it to the hand, cause the face ain’t listening.
5. Give it your best shot.
4. I’m a Gentleman.
3. You’re out of the game!
#2 It disappointments me when you do that.
I used to think that when I made a wrong choice, God was disappointed with me. I could imagine Him looking down, frowning in displeasure because of what I had done or neglected to do. I thought the best way back into His good graces was to repent - and by that I meant, to do the thing that He had expected.
The truth is, though, that God is never disappointed with you. Disappointment is the result of an unfulfilled expectation. The simple truth is that God doesn't expect anything. He already knows how everything is going to turn out. Every thought, word or deed you will ever have - He already knows in advance. So how could you ever disappoint God? You can't.
We can certainly disappoint ourselves. We can disappoint each other. But it just isn't possible to disappoint God because He knew all along what we would do and nothing catches Him off-guard. Does this mean He doesn't care when we make wrong choices? Of course not, but the reason He cares is because He always wants what is best for us and hates to see us foolishly make choices that will hurt us.
God's love for you will never get any stronger or weaker than it is right now because His love has nothing to do with what you do. It is the result of His loving grace and nothing else. There's room for repentance in our lives alright. Let's repent of thinking that our actions somehow affect God's love for us. They don't.
You may disappoint yourself, but don't try to drag Him into your bondage. He won't go there. Your Father loves and adores you no matter what. One thing is sure: You'll never hear Him say, "I'm disappointed in you."
AND THE #1 THING YOU WILL NEVER HEAR GOD SAY . . .
PASS THE ROLAIDS
I stumbled across your page for the first time yesterday, and the #2 reason was exactly what I needed to hear [read] at exactly the right time. I believe He led me to it. I just wanted to let you know this, and I thank you for putting it in text form rather than video, even though I know that was not your original intention. I think it hit me much harder being able to see the words rather than just hear them.
ReplyDeleteA thought to add to #2... We definitely disappoint ourselves all the time but how can we save ourselves from that bondage? not only putting God in that bondage, but ourselves?
ReplyDeleteI think the answer has something to do with living our lives in expectancy instead of expectations... expectations are a checklist of things that you can meet or not meet... not met and you fail or even if you meet them you have limited the possibilities.
I have an expectancy that the Lord will meet my needs... but I have no expectations for how the Lord will do that... so I can never say that I feel disappointed by the Lord... or to bring it down to relationships here...
I have an expectancy in my friendships of love, care, and trust... and in that expectancy there is no checklist of how those things will be met... therefore my friends can't disappoint me...
But if there is a checklist then they fail me, or I fail me.... make sense? maybe not... just some thoughts as i'm trying to figure this all out!