Tuesday, June 29th – Be Real In Your Expectation.

John 2:23-25 “Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.”

Jesus did not determine who He was by what men had to say about Him. Jesus knew the peo- ple He was ministering to. He knew that one day they all would turn away and reject Him. Some would be saying, “I never knew Him.” Or, “Crucify Him”. But Jesus still saw the best in people and worked to bring it out, He was not naïve He understood human frailty.

Jesus constantly called people to a higher standard but He understood that their best would still be imperfect and so you need to understand that about people too and handle them accordingly. Jesus was not expecting perfectionist, He know man is not perfect and so He gave us instruction on how to deal with people who disappoint us. He said we should love one another as He has loved us i.e. unconditionally and without pressure. Jesus never based His love He had for people by the love they had for Him. His love was unconditional.

When Jesus came to die for man, He did not rely on the response of man. Jesus knew before- hand that man would reject Him. Jesus was relying on His Father for his confidence and trust. Jesus knew how fickle and disloyal even His followers would be, but He choose to love each of us selflessly, without expecting any love in return, because His eyes were on His Father, not man. Man’s love with few exceptions is always conditional but God’s love with no exceptions is always unconditional.

I naturally expect more from those dearest to me but when they disappoint me, I am hurt more than I would have been with a neighbor or outsider, part of the reason is we are suppose to value our relationship more with the Lord than anyone here in this world. But we don’t. Do we? It is only normal for us to be more influenced by our relationship with others than our relationship with the Lord. This is what has to change, and the Lord never commands us to do something that He won’t give us the grace to carry out.

The world is watching us, they see Christianity on the television and hear it on the radio. But for the most part are not impressed. That is because the world is looking for acceptance, approval and mostly love. If the world ever sees the awesome Love of Jesus in us, they are going to want it for themselves. We become more like Jesus when we begin to carry out His love first among ourselves and then show it to the world.

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