> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://brewedfaith.ca/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Great Expectations - URL: https://brewedfaith.ca/great-expectations/ - Published: 2024-12-13T18:49:12.000Z - Updated: 2026-08-14T04:50:29.000Z - Author: Tim Gibb - Tags: Journeying, Leadership, Soul Care, bible, character, christianity, faith, Following Jesus, god, Hope, Jesus, #Migrated-1786683019158, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-14 00:50 The expectations flood in. They flood over us all. Expectations in our work, relationships, even from the countries – nations we live in. These expectations are not only present in our ever-day, they grow and become worlds and empires in themselves that develop new expectations that rival the old. We are inundated with expectations. Most, we can all attest to, are not ever going to materialize. We are just not that good, not that talented, don’t have that inordinate amount of time to master such great expectations. But we strive. We put effort into these expectations regardless of the outcomes. What we often don’t think about is the expectations that we are called to focus on in order to shape us in our character and eternal relationship with God. There is one expectation that challenges us to our very core: ***“You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.”*** ***Philippians 2:5*** It may be one of the most direct expectations that we find in scripture, most definitely one of the hardest. The expectation to be as Jesus in how and why we think and act. Attitude is more than just a whim or a feeling. Attitude is a governing force in ourselves. Eugene Peterson put it this way in his translation of the Philippians verse: ***“Think of yourselves the way that Christ Jesus thought of himself.”*** Not that we are called to think and feel and act as God. But that we are to emulate the characteristics of Jesus in his humility and grace for, and before others. It isn’t enough to consider others before ourselves, we are to sacrifice; completely give of ourselves to our emptying place for our brothers and sisters. The expectation of the Christ follower is to give all, share all, express love to all with our own expectation of nothing in return. Give with no strings attached. Share without glory. Love unconditionally and anonymously. It is what we see Jesus do through the gospels. It is how he began his time with us, come as a baby, laid in a feeding trough. Our saviours’ expectations were nil. What that baby born in Bethlehem offers is another story. Jesus, in his teaching tells us what this expectation presented to the Philippian church looks like from his perspective: ***“Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”*** ***Matthew 11:28-30*** The expectations of life with Jesus flow out of a call to rest and journey with him. The world calls us to impossible expectations and to meet them head on, by ourselves. This life and journey with Jesus, fulfilling his expectations of his yoke, happen WITH him. Remember he tells us we won’t be alone. He is with us. He gives his Spirit to us to guide, shape and sharpen us. From the expectations of a world marred with sin, to the expectations of Christ’s likeness embodied in perfect holiness, the journey of life with Jesus finds its place in his peace and joy. Latch onto his expectations. The journey of self-sacrifice and giving fully of ourselves to everyone around us as Jesus did and continues to do, is hard, impossible. Yet with Jesus, now all things are made possible – in fact, they are made probable!