In fact, we define our relationship with God by what we think he expects of us, and what we expect of him.
This is Hope. What we hope he give us, what we think he hopes we give him.
Likewise with each other. I hoped that the parents would send me some cash to eliminate an arrest warrant. They did.
Had i expected it rather than hoping, i would have been upset if they did not. Initially they didn’t have the cash, and said ‘No’, which was okay.
So where’s the line? This question is why i’m writing now.
The flip side to Hope is Rest. The flip side to Faith is Works. Working on Hope or Resting in Faith are both like mixing baking soda with vinegar; we get first a messy reaction, then a bunch of smelly stuff to clean up.
If i Hope someone will be a certain way, i don’t need to do anything about it except have confidence. The confidence will show, and is the greatest motivator for the person to act in that way.
If i Hope someone will be a certain way and Work on making them that way, i am mixing baking soda with vinegar; i am preventing them from being that way by interfering.
There are true Hopes and there are False Expectations. True Hopes cannot be dashed. When we have a dashed Hope, it demonstrates that it was a False Expectation, which we were working toward rather than resting in.
God knows that he will be satisfied and delighted with our lives; Christ has guaranteed it to him. He does not have to work on that. It is his Rest.
What God works on is our faith; showing us how to believe the same thing of ourselves that he believes of us.
Hope has to do with where we are headed; faith has to do with how we are getting there. Working is appropriate for the journey. Resting is appropriate for the destination.
The most powerful gift we can give to God or to another person is being confident in him/them without prescribing how they are expected to be
The most effective way to do something for God or another person is to work with them; not for them or on them.
After having multiple False Expectations dashed, we don`t want to Hope anymore, because we think it never works out. This is akin to having something nice happen to us from God, and sitting around cringing while we wait for `the other shoe to drop`.
Hope comes before faith. Rest comes before works. If we are not at rest, we cannot work with God or anyone else because we`re too busy proving them or ourselves.
We deal all day, every day, with expectations. If they are converted into the confidence of Hope, we can operate without fear.
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