Expecting the Unexpected
How tightly do you hold onto your own ideas or expectations?
Verse of the Day
‘For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps.’
Today’s Devotional
Can you imagine a young doctor who is learning his (or her) craft and only learns from textbooks? Would you let a doctor with only book training perform surgery on you? Or treat you at all?
I would not. I want a doctor who has had hands-on training with patient mentors. I want a doctor who continues to learn new techniques, and who sees me as a human and not just as a “problem” in my body that needs to be solved.
What about when you were learning a math concept in school? Often the instructor would teach the new material and then do several example problems while you watched and learned. All of this was part of the process of learning before you ever had to practice this on your own.
One of the things that is hardest about being a disciple of Jesus is knowing how to be a human, in a messy world, who is fruitfully following the will of God.
Perhaps this is one of the reasons that Jesus came in human form. We need an example of what it looks like to be a human in a messy world following the will of the Father. Jesus did this perfectly. And His life is our example of how to be human.
Today’s verse says that Jesus is our example and we are to follow in His steps. But what does that mean? Let’s start by looking at His birth. What does the birth of Jesus tell us about how to be human?
The first thing that stands out to me is that status among my peers should be irrelevant. The Jews were expecting their Messiah to be a military ruler to overthrow Rome, so a peasant of lowly birth did not fit their expectations. Jesus came without status, and even amid controversy. And yet it was all God’s plan.
Why do we tend to care about status? I believe it’s because, whether we like to admit it or not, we want others to think well of us. As I did some research on social status, I discovered that while it is a driving force for most (if not all) social creatures, it is quite fickle and hard to maintain.
The example of Jesus’ birth, however, shows us that God is not concerned with social hierarchy. And God has been showing us this all throughout the Old Testament as well. There are many examples of God calling the younger brother instead of the firstborn, which went contrary to social norms. There are examples of women being vital parts of God’s plan, of prophets healing people who were not Israelites, and of pagan kings issuing orders that carried out God’s plans.
Simply put, God does not follow man-made rules or customs. Jesus’ birth is a prime example of that.
The example of Jesus’ birth teaches us, as His disciples, to expect the unexpected. It teaches us that we need to keep our eyes open to God moving in unexpected ways. It teaches us to hold our ideas and traditions loosely, because those things are not more important than wherever God is doing. Jesus spoke to this concept specifically in Matthew 15 when He said, “And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition. These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.”
What would it look like for us to follow the example that Jesus’ birth teaches us? We could start by confessing the areas where we care too much what other people think of us and inviting the Spirit’s help to care what the Father thinks above all. We could also ask the Father to help us to see where we are holding onto ideas or traditions that are man-made. We could be brave enough to ask for help to expect the unexpected, to be flexible to the plans and movements of God, and to be interruptible.
If God’s ways are higher than our ways, then He will likely always move and work in ways we don’t expect.
Father, today we ask for your help to see Jesus as our example of how to be human. We ask that you help us to be students of His life and to see Him as our living example of how to follow your will. We ask for insight into the ways where we care too highly about status and the opinions of others. And we ask that we are awed instead of frustrated by the unexpected ways that you work in our lives.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
How is the life of Jesus an example for you today?
How can you follow the example of Jesus?
What does the birth of Jesus teach you about how to be human?
What is your prayer to the Father today?