By David ReayThursday 27 Apr 2017LifeWords DevotionalsFaithReading Time: 0 minutes
Transcript:
Read Ephesians 4:31-32
31-32 Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you. (THE MESSAGE)
Many experts in the field reckon that many marriages break down because of excessive expectations partners have of each other. We expect too much of one another and of marriage. And the same principle applies to other relationships too. We can become disillusioned with church because it doesn’t meet our expectations. We lose a friend because we demanded too much of them. We leave a job because our expectations were not fulfilled.
It is right and proper to have some expectations. It is right to expect our spouses to love us and our friends to stick with us and our church to provide some sort of worshipping community. The problem arises when our expectations are unrealistic. We sometimes have to admit that our spouse, our friend, our church cannot fulfil even every reasonable expectation we have of them.
Human relationships are played out on a landscape of human imperfection. Failure to recognise this means we fall foul of texts like the one today. We become irritable, frustrated, even bitter. We fail to forgive others for merely being human.
One writer suggested we hold a sort of spiritual funeral whereby we formally bury our expectations. Putting them to death may mean bringing love back to life.
Blessings
David Reay