Heart Matters

“Therefore we also, since we’re surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ..” Hebrews 12:1

“Let us lay aside every weight…”  Weights are heavy! When they’re attached to us there’s no denying their presence.  I’m going to date myself here but remember when ankle weights were popular?  We’d strap them on for our walks, our jogs, and/or aerobic exercise. (Do people still use those?) Weights are a viable source for physical training because they’re restrictive and they create resistance.  When we engage in weight training there’s little else we’re physically able to do while working out.  The weights we’ve put on or picked up demand our full attention and acknowledgment.  Often times we use certain objects as weights to stop or hold something in place. In the physical, weights can be useful in many ways. However, when it comes to our spiritual life, the things that slows us down or holds us back have to be laid aside. The weights that spiritually hinder our ability to “run with endurance the race that’s set before us,” have to go!

As you read this blog I’d like to challenge you to think of the things in your life that you’re currently allowing to weigh you down and prevent you from moving forward on the track the Lord has established before you.  Before I continue, just in case there’s someone out there who will misconstrue this concept, I want to point out the things that may seem like weights but really aren’t-because God would never want us to lay them aside.  Okay sooo this means your unfulfilling and unhappy marriage-is not a weight.  Your undisciplined and unruly children-are not weights.  Your rebellious teenage-not a weight. Your needy and sometimes demanding parents-they are not weights! Although at times they may deliver a pressure that feels like a 500 lb dumbbell, they’re more like a treadmill which increases your stamina and builds up your resilience.  So be of good cheer!

Unlike the external weights of life, the spiritual weights we deal with are usually more internal.  They’re not the people or things we have to deal with but rather the strong emotions and feelings we tend to harbor.  So what are the weights that have been keeping you stagnant in your walk with Christ? What’s the baggage that’s significantly slowing down your pace, causing you to walk or jog instead of running for the Lord?  What are the weights you need to lay aside, completely discard, and ultimately get rid of?!

As I examined my heart regarding this matter I’ve come to the conclusion the shackles that have weighed me down the most have almost always been my very own expectations.  My expectations can trip me up, cause me to veer off course, and completely immobilize me! So I know what you’re thinking. “But wait a minute aren’t we supposed to have expectations? After all, don’t we all have them?  Don’t we all expect to accomplish certain goals, milestones, and dreams?  Don’t we all expect to grow, mature, and prosper, especially as the years go by? How could something so innocent as having expectations be wrong? How in the world could our sincere expectations cause us to err?  Are they not a reflection of the fact that we have hope?  How can one possibly hope without having expectations?”

I’m glad you asked!  While I agree that it’s normal to have certain inherent expectations in life, I believe it’s also important to be able to recognize the ones we have that we’ve allowed to become something more twisted and sinister.  It’s important for us to be able to discern when we no longer have an expectation, but rather, that expectation now has us. By the way this is the fork in the road when our expectations become unhealthy and can no longer ride side by side with what we know to be hope.  Although they are closely related hope and expectation are not one in the same.

Expectation is defined by Webster dictionary as “the act or state of expecting: anticipation in expectation of what would happen; something expected; basis for expecting: assurance. Sounds a lot like hope doesn’t it?  However, Webster defines Hope as “to cherish a desire with anticipation; archaic: trust.  Starting to see a slight difference?  The Greek word for the word hope as found in  The Bible is “elpizo”-to expect or confide: hope(d), trust.  This word is an derivative of the Greek word “elpis” which means to anticipate with pleasure; expectation rooted in confidence:-faith, hope.

Okay I’ll admit they are very similar. However still they are not the same.  When we have expectations-we expect what we are anticipating to definitely happen.  When we hope-it’s the desire that’s being cherished.  Although we’re hopeful that our desire will come to pass, we’re leaving that decision up to the Lord all the while enjoying the journey with Him along the way.  The biblical definition for hope has to do with pleasure.  We’re pleased and okay with waiting because of who we’re trusting in and waiting on-The Lord. We can cherish our desire because it’s up to the One who cherishes us.

When we hope there’s definitely a certain level of expectation involved. We expect God to make His will known even if its not exactly the way we wanted it to go.  Hope and expectation can co-exist, but only when our expectations stay neatly tucked away under the umbrella of hope.  Hope has to keep our expectations in it’s proper place-willingly under the authority of our sovereign LORD.  Like a little child who’s prone to wandering off, our expectations must be kept on a tight leash.  We can have expectations which have nothing to do with hope.  While hope originates with God, our expectations can exist apart from the things of God. Expectations can be the result of insistence, entitlement, and intolerance.  But hope is rooted in faith, trust, and confidence in Christ.  Hope is born our of our relationship with God.  However, expectation can be born out of self.  Hope is all about God’s will! But my expectations can be all about my own selfish will.

While our expectations can be reasonable we can become unreasonable about our expectations. This is why I believe our expectations do not always fall within the pale of what is considered hope.  Our expectations, my expectations, when left unchecked by God can easily transform from a reasonable and godly desire into an unreasonable ugly idol.

This has always been a challenge for me.  The more I wait on my expectations, the more it has the tendency to become a weight of my expectations. I begin to feel as though I must have my way in this thing and I must have my way NOW!  My emotions can start to overrule me and I feel as though I better get my way or else!  Or else: I’ll become sullen and depressed; I’ll become angry and bitter; I’ll become irritated and frustrated; I’ll become grouchy and unpleasant.  Like a spoiled brat I fully expect my heavenly Father who blesses me so to give me my way.

I can so quickly take a detour from the surrender of hope to the insistence of expecting.  I can think of one area of my life in which I’ve allowed my expectations to weigh me down for years.  I became so obsessed with seeing my desire (it’s a good and godly desire mind you) come to pass that it became the main focus of my life.  I filtered everything through it. I couldn’t move pass it because I was afraid I’d miss when it happened.  I couldn’t see all the things the Lord was doing through not giving it to me because I refuse to accept that He wouldn’t. As I insisted on what I hoped for coming to fruition, as I demanded what I expected God to give me, I began allowing that desire to become stronger and stronger. Eventually by the grace of God, I realized that this thing was so large, so huge, and so enormous in my life that it smashed me and in a sense caused me to bow down before it. I wanted what I wanted so badly that I began worshiping my godly desire instead of my GOD. I was consumed with receiving what I wanted. My determination to get my way caused me to take my eyes off the Giver of all good and perfect gifts (James 1:17), as I fixated with tunnel vision on the one gift I decided I absolutely had to have.  Although I thought I lived a life surrendered to His will, when it came to this thing I was expecting, it was all about my will.

Have you ever read the book of Jonah?  If you haven’t I highly recommend that you do so. Especially if you struggle with or are weighed down by a stubborn will.  To my shame, sometimes I can have a lot in common with Jonah and his rebellious spirit. Yeah I know ultimately Jonah did what the Lord instructed him to do.  But look at what he had to go through (and what he put others through) because of his insistence on having his way. Look, Jonah was so strong in not wanting to go to the wicked city of Nineveh and help the people there that he was willing to be thrown into a raging sea.  He was so angry about God’s decision to extend His goodness and mercy to the people of Nineveh that he told God it would be better for him to die than to live.  Jonah thought he had a right “to be angry, even to death!”

Now if you know anything about our LORD you know that no one can force His hand! When we begin “expecting” instead of “hoping” it can be as though we think we can tell the Lord what to do.  We need to remember how the LORD dealt with Jonah. You can also guess how the Lord dealt with me concerning my uncompromising expectations. To this day that thing which I wanted and desired so badly that I allowed it to become an idol in my life-I still haven’t received it.  And you know what?  I’m so grateful I didn’t!  The Lord didn’t play with me on this.  The more I insisted He give me my way, the more He insisted I come correct. God had to show me that I see things from a limited view and in a temporal way but He is eternal. Does He want me to hope?  Of course He does! And I still hope for that very thing I desired before.  But now I wait patiently and with pleasure knowing whether He grants my prayers or not, the outcome will be perfect because I’m surrendering to His perfect will.  I had to take my expectations back into captivity to the Lordship of Christ!

Now, I am no longer weighed down by what I wanted. Concerning my desire-my will has become whatever His will is concerning it.  I could go so far as to say I’ve left it in my dust as I am now free to run with endurance this beautiful race the Lord has set before me.  But the truth is since it is now something I hope for instead of something I expect-it’s neatly tucked away in a pocket close to my heart moving with me as I quickly move forward day by day.

Can we expectantly hope?  Of course we can!  Just as long as our expectations don’t separate from our hope in the Lord and begin to weigh us down.  It’s better to hope! Hope exists within the perfect will of God.  Hope magnifies our joy and peace.  Hope propels us forward for Christ.  Hope causes us to rest in the Lord.  Hope can keep our expectations in check.

HEART TO HEART:  DON’T WAIT TO GET RID OF YOUR WEIGHTS-GOD IS AT THE FINISH LINE WAITING FOR YOU!