No Expectations
Being a new father has given me a fresh and new perspective on how I see and even feel about God. From the first moment I laid my eyes on my newborn son, I loved him. It was a feeling that I have never felt before- instant love. The amazing thing about it was that my newborn had done nothing to earn my love, nothing to deserve my love… He just had it, totally and completely. There were and there are no expectations put upon my love. There are no criteria that he has to meet in order to maintain my love. There are no rules or regulations put on my love toward him—He doesn’t have to spend a certain amount of time with me; he doesn’t have to tell me everyday how much he loves me—there is nothing that he has to do to gain or to maintain my love… He just has it because he is my son.
As I have said, being a first time dad has given me a brand new appreciation and understanding of the love of God. For the past couple weeks I have been thinking about something and that something will forever change my life. The thought is this: GOD DOES NOT PLACE EXPECTATIONS ON ME. God does not need me to live by rules and regulations. He needs me to be his son. It is that plain and that simple. His love for me is not contingent upon me doing certain things or living a certain way. For the first time in my life I am coming to the realization that God has not put certain expectations on me that I need to fulfill if I am going to stay in his love and good graces.
Just like my son, he could mess up every day… he could poop on me everyday (which he has already pretty much done)… and it wouldn’t change my love toward him one iota. Why? Because there are no expectations, there are no rules put on my love. He just has it because he is my son. God is the same, there are no expectations put on his love toward us… What we do has no effect on his love toward us. It is unconditional. What freedom we can experience when we grasp the fact that we don’t have to live under the pressure of having to do this or do that or be this or be that in order to garner the love of God. GOD DOES NOT HAVE EXPECTATIONS ON US… Now, having said that, I try and be all that God has called me to be, but now I can live my life without the fear of disappointing or letting God down. He loves me because I am his son… It is that simple.
This entry was posted on Thursday, November 20th, 2008 at 5:25 pm and is filed under Harrison Conley. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.2 Responses to “No Expectations”
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Harrison Conley and Gabe Rodriguez are Youth Pastor's for the 365 Youth Group at Cottonwood Church in Los Alamitos CA. Services are every Wednesday night at 7pm. Check out the 365 website at www.threesixtyfive.org for more information.
February 9th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
god will loves us no matter how much bad we have done we will never let god down the worst thing we can do is let oursleves down
March 14th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
Hi Harrison,It was awesome to meet with you and your dad yesterday at breakfast in Brisbane.Thanks so much for taking the time to come here.It was “SO” worth coming from Canberra (17 hours south!)to see you guys.Cant wait to hear your dad preach today at Sunday service!Having kids I really can relate to what you have said about the fathers heart and thanks for putting it in a way that’s both succinct and brings revelation.What you have said is a liberating piece of counsel!! I am so sure many of us feel we often have to “earn” Gods love-probably because it is so undeserved, but what an encouragement to know how Gods unconditional love is kinda parralel with the way we love our own kids- no matter what they have done including “poopin” on us -but his love is only deeper and far greater.Cheers again and like I said to you yesterday your 365 site rocks!! “brutha from anutha mother”-Blessings Jim. PS If you ever come back to “OZ” please,please come to Canberra and you can fish the snowy mountains rivers/streams where the “Maddest” trout fishing and best scenery in OZ is- full stop!I was really eancouraged to hear you guys love the outdoors!Is there any better place to hang with the Lord?!? Rmber keep it real and keep sayin it as it is….