Skip to main content

What do you Expect?



            Steve Blass played major league baseball for 10 years as a pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates.  In 1971 he won the World Series and in 1972 he was one of the league’s best players and was named a National League All-star.  Then, in 1973, everything fell apart.
            Suddenly Steve Blass could not control his pitches.  No matter what he tried, his game went straight downhill.  Within 2 years, he was out of baseball and the phrase "Steve Blass disease" was coined.  Blass explained, “When it was gone, it was gone for good. I started thinking about all the things that could go wrong and suddenly they did”.
            There is an old saying, “Whether you believe you can or you believe that you can’t, you are right either way” and that certainly was true of Steve Blass.  He stopped believing that he could be a major league pitcher and, before he knew it, he was not one. 
            Though it is not a “hard and fast rule”, we often get what we expect to get.   If you expect your kids to be bad, they will act in ways that drive you crazy. Expect to have a bad day and you will find lots to complain about.  Expect that people are out to get you and you will discover things that seem to confirm that belief. 
            On the other hand, if you expect to enjoy a certain activity, you likely will.  If you think that you are going to like your new neighbours, they probably will seem really nice.  If you expect a new experience to be an adventure instead of a problem, it will change the way you go through it.
            In Hebrews 5:11-6:4, the writer tells his readers that they have to change their thinking and their expectations.  They been “slow to learn” the lessons of God (5:11).  In fact, he says that they need to “leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity” (6:1). In other words, they were the limiting factor in their faith.  God was ready to great things in them and through them, but it was not happening because they did not believe that it could happen. 
            The same holds true for us.  What we believe will shape what we receive.  The fact is that God is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20).
            So, what are you getting? 
            Well, what do you expect?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dark and Light

            When you look out at the world, what do you see?             Some see nothing but trouble and pain.   They point to things like poverty, crime, problems with drugs and alcohol and marriage break-ups and say that the world is full of sadness and sorrow.   Watch the news for even a half hour and you will get the idea that the world is a dark place.             Others see nothing but good.   They appreciate generous people in their community.   They think about their friends and neighbours and smile.   They marvel at the beauty of sunrises and stars at night.   To them, the world is a bright and wonderful place.             You may be surprised that the Bible supports both of these world views.   On one hand it says things like, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the
1 comment
Read more

New Article: Five Words to Improve Your Relationships

                 In the late 1800s, it was common for railway companies to plant formal gardens beside their stations.   These gardens were filled with trees, shrubs, flowers, and fruit trees.   Sometimes they also featured a kitchen garden growing lettuce, carrots, corn, and potatoes.   Estevan’s Canadian Pacific Railway Garden was once located where Mid-City Plumbing and Heating is today.                The purpose of these gardens was to show what the land could produce.   After hours and sometimes days of riding across the featureless prairies, the railways wanted to show settlers the potential of their new home.   The gardens showed what was possible and they encouraged the settlers to transform their own land and discover its potential too.                Today’s verse acts similarly, in that it challenges us to find the potential in
Post a Comment
Read more

Forgetting What Is Behind

                   Generalizations are helpful because they show a pattern that is normally true. However, they are also dangerous because they ignore the exceptions to the rule.                  Here is my generalization:   It is a quality of the strong to be able to forget the past and move on.   The apostle Paul summarizes this idea when he states, “One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God had called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14). Too often, we trip over things that are behind us.   We remember and nurse old hurts.   We rehearse mistakes that no one else recalls.   In doing so, we pull the past into the present and allow it to dictate how we feel right now.   In these cases, we would be better off “forgett
Post a Comment
Read more