Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

   - Acts 21.13

I expect daily to be killed, betrayed, or brought back into slavery, or something of the kind. But, because of the promise of heaven, I fear none of these things. For I have thrown myself into the hands of Almighty God, who reigns everywhere...

  - Patrick, Confession, Irish, 5th century

Ah, another new day in the Kingdom of God. So, what are you expecting today?

Each of us tends to live toward our expectations, our hopes. We choose our friends, spouses, work, and places to live on the basis of what we expect of them, what we hope they will bring to us in terms of goodness or happiness.

We avoid things that we expect to bring us into conflict, opposition, suffering, uncertainty, or pain, because we are conditioned to live our lives with a view to maximizing material comfort and personal pleasure.

But comfort and pleasure that take account only of the needs of the body will throw the soul under the bus to avoid painful expectations.

We have even been taught to believe that our faith in Jesus should not only not inconvenience us, but it should not be a source of upset or distress to others, either. And we live our faith in King Jesus accordingly.

That is, timidly.

Neither Patrick nor Paul lived this way. They knew the Gospel would stir up controversy. They knew it would make people angry and resistant, even to the point of causing difficulty and suffering for themselves. They knew that Jesus had told us to expect as much, and so they did! They expected difficulty and trial, yet they charged ahead into the very teeth of it, day after day.

What about us? Don’t we know that Jesus told us to expect that the world would hate us like it hated Him? That the Gospel we bear will cause divisions and strife? That people will speak ill of us, persecute us, and do all manner of evil against us because of the Gospel?

No, we know all these things, don’t we – we just don’t really expect them. And since we don’t expect them, we live toward a comfortable, untroubling, all-pacifying, nonconfrontational gospel.

The only problem is, that’s not the Gospel of Patrick, Paul – or Jesus.

Ah, another new day in the Kingdom. So, what are you expecting, and how are you planning to live?

Psalm 9.14-16 (Diademata: “Crown Him with Many Crowns”)
Lift up your voice in praise before glad Zion’s gate!
Rejoice in Jesus’ saving ways; His glory celebrate!
The nations fail and fall, condemned by their own hands;
The Lord Who showed Himself to all o’er them in judgment stands.

Lord, I have no reason to expect opposition, struggle, or trial as long as I choose to live a comfortable, to-myself Gospel. Give me the boldness of Patrick and Paul, and change my expectations, Lord.