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By Al Earley
Contributing columnist

These last two weeks I have challenged us to grow Christmas in our soul as a great alternative to the traditional Christmas traditions that will be canceled because of covid.  This week I want to look at God’s expectations of us.  In any relationship there are expectations from the two parties that formed the relationship.  For example, in a marriage husbands have expectations of their wives, and equally, wives have expectations of their husbands.  Similarly, with our relationship with God, there are expectations on both sides.  Our expectations from God may vary from one individual to another, may depend on the depth of the relationship, and may depend on the situation or circumstances we find ourselves in.  There are also expectations of us from the Lord.

This is important to remember because most people are content to give God lip service during most of their lives, and then when they need something they can’t get for themselves they expect God to step in and fix this, as if God were a holy vending machine.  Otherwise, we expect God to stay quiet against the wall when we don’t need Him, and then when we do we say a quick prayer (pop in a dollar), and a miracle magically pops into our lives when we don’t get what we want.

God wants a relationship with us.  He wants that relationship to be better than the best marriage.  He never wants, and will not allow Himself to become a holy vending machine.  He knows that if He jumps through all our hoops we will never go deeper in our relationship with Him, and so with perfect wisdom God allows us to experience hardship, suffering, and pain so we will learn to run into His arms.  It is true that sometimes God will not allow us to experience more than we can handle.  It is also true that God will allow us to experience more hardship than we can handle so we will run into his arms to experience His healing power, strength, and guidance.

Deuteronomy 10:12 has one of the best statements of God’s expectations of us.  We read, “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the LORD and His statutes which I command you today for your good?”

That is a very straight forward list.  1) Fear the Lord your God.  2) Walk in all His ways.  3)  Love the Lord your God.  4) Serve the Lord your God with all your heart 5) Keep His commandments.  I invite you to take each item and google search three scriptures that reinforce each item.  Type the word “scripture” and then the words to each item and you will get lots of scriptures.  Then think of three ways you live by each.  Then think of three new ways you can live out each one and build your relationship with the Lord.

The story is told of a mother who scolded her five-year-old daughter for wasting the expensive gold wrapping paper.  Money was tight, and it really upset her that her daughter used it to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree.  On Christmas morning the daughter brought the box as a gift to her mother and said, “This is for you, Momma.”

The mother was embarrassed by her earlier overreaction, but her anger flared again when she opened the box and found it was empty.  She declared, “Don’t you know, young lady, when you give someone a present there’s supposed to be something inside the package?”

Tearfully, the daughter said, “Oh, Momma, it’s not empty!  I blew kisses into it until it was full.”  The mother was crushed.  She fell to her knees, put her arms around her daughter, and begged for forgiveness.  For the rest of her life, the mother kept the gold box next to her bed.  Whenever she felt sad or discouraged she opened the box.  When she struggled with loneliness she would open the box and take out an imaginary kiss, and remember the love of a child who put it there.

There is a child named Jesus who has a gift of faith, hope, and love to give to you.  He wants a relationship with you.  I hope you will take time to work on that relationship and do the exercise above.  I hope you experience growth in your soul this Christmas.

To find out more about Al Earley or read previous articles, see www.lagrangepres.org.