It was the end of their first month of marriage. The husband sat quietly looking at a slice of half-eaten bread and in a voice filled with discouragement said, “I wish you could make bread like my mother.”
Without a moment’s hesitation she responded, “And I wish you could make dough like my father!”
It is natural for us to have expectations of others - especially family members and friends. Doing “good things” for others is what Christians are expected to do when we see someone in need. Often, however, our expectations reflect greed and self-centeredness and go beyond what we have any right to expect.
Paul, in writing of God-type-love had something important to say: “Love,” he said, “is patient and kind...love does not demand its own way...love endures through every circumstance.”
The type of love Paul is writing about seems to be the opposite of what we usually think of when we want something. We usually want what we want when we want it. And when we don’t get what we want, we “develop an attitude.”
Paul also wrote, “Let this mind - or attitude - be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” When we make unreal expectations of others, it reflects a self-centered and greedy person - just the opposite of our Savior.
God expects us to have the same “attitude” toward others as Jesus did: one of humility and service.
Prayer: Fill our hearts, Lord, with the love that filled the heart of Jesus. May we see others as He saw them - as individuals He loved and served and wanted to save. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Scripture for Today: 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
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