Living With Less Podcast

The Trap Of Unmet Expectations

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This episode is covering what happens when we take God out of our plans and create our own expectations of what something should look like. In 1 John 5:21 it tell us to keep away from anything that might take God's place in our hearts. This is what expectation does. It creates a tendency in our heart that wants to take God's will out and have everything go our way. In that happening we end up having our expectations unmet and find ourselves in a harder place than we started.

1 John 5:21 "Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God's place in your hearts."

Expectation - a strong belief that something will happen.

What expectations are and what they do

  • It's an idea of how we think things will be.
  • Not all expectations are bad but they become an issue when what we want to have becomes greater than what God wants us for us in that moment/season.
  • In my story I shared, I shared how I thought this would be perfect for our marriage and make us feel closer.
  • I never though about what God wanted in this or if God wanted us to do this.

    • "Jesus, I want what you want today". -Miss Christy

    The Trap

    • The list of pressure keeps growing on people as it becomes easier and easier to gain access to everyone's best moments.
    • 16th birthday is now about the picture with the car instead of just being excited to have wheels.
    • Engagement is now more about the ring and dreamy social media post than it is about the promise made between the couple in that moment.
    • Christmas Card debacle we try to get the perfect picture to send everyone to feel like we've got it together, when in reality someone probably had a melt down on the way.

      • "We can't let unmet expectations seal the anticipation we should have in all Christ is doing."

      "We can't have our expectations and standards for life set in photographs or the what we think should be's. Our expectations and standards need to be in Christ.

      Where to find Godly standards

      • Ephesians 4:17-32 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self,[a] which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
        • Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
      • We can't let the cloud of what we want block out what God is wanting for us.
      • God commands us to set our minds on things above, not on thing that are on this earth. Colossians 3:2

        • We need to ask God to keep our expectations in line with His will for us and help us to surrender the places that we'd rather control in our thoughts.

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        Living With Less PodcastBy Chelsey DeMatteis
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