People Who Disappoint You
Luke 10:38-42 While Jesus and his followers were travelling, he went into a town, and a woman named Martha let him stay at her house. She had a sister named Mary. Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet and listening to him teach. But her sister Martha was busy doing all the work that had to be done. Martha went in and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are getting worried and upset about too many things. Only one thing is important. Mary has made the right choice, and it will never be taken away from her.”
We’ve all been at the wrong end of some unreasonable expectations. People expecting us to be someone that we clearly aren’t, expecting us to do things that we can’t. Unreasonable! But what about when the shoe is on the other foot, hmm?
We all have expectations of people, don’t we? What a perfect parent should look like, how a perfect wife or husband or sibling should behave – of course there’s nothing new in any of that:
Luke 10:38-42 While Jesus and his followers were travelling, he went into a town, and a woman named Martha let him stay at her house. She had a sister named Mary. Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet and listening to him teach. But her sister Martha was busy doing all the work that had to be done. Martha went in and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are getting worried and upset about too many things. Only one thing is important. Mary has made the right choice, and it will never be taken away from her.”
Why can’t people do what I want them to do? That’s what Martha was thinking about her sister Mary. But they were two very different people, so Jesus turned to Martha and basically said, “Hey, you may be a hard worker but in this case not only were your expectations wrong, but your sister made the better choice.”
So often our disappointment is born out of our own unreasonable expectations, not the other person’s actions. And perhaps now that you see what’s going on, the next time someone disappoints you, you could remember that they’re different to you and cut them some slack. Then all of a sudden, the disappointment evaporates.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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