Today's Devotional

March 22, 2005

Subject:  Fellowship With The Cross Of Christ - Failure

Philippians 3:10 - "That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

Luke 24:8 11 "And they remembered his words, and returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest. It was Mary Magdalene and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles. And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not."

As we look at day two of how we fellowship with Christ by living as He lived, we realize that because of the expectations of many of His followers and a providential plan that they did not understand, Christ would ultimately become a failure to them.

While the disciples walked with Christ, they heard His words and tried as best they could to follow His teachings daily.  However, the crucifixion left them disappointed.  This messiah had been defeated "easily" and without much of a fight.  Now only two days later, their hopes and dreams dashed, they were not at the graveside checking to see if His prophecy of His own resurrection would come true.  No, it was the women mentioned above who were there.  Why?  Perhaps they thought it was all over.  This great God, The Son of God, as Peter stated recently before, had failed them.

When people create expectations for us, we too will fail them.  The expectations don't have to be high and lofty or miraculous expectations, they simply have to be expectations.  We simply cannot allow our minds to create expectations of others because unless the Spirit of God has given us discernment of future events, the end will always be disappointment, and just as the disciples believed at a certain point about Christ, failure.

Today think about how others have let you down.  Perhaps you have labeled them as failures.  God has not done so.  He ever sees hope.  If we get rid of our expectations, we can do the same.  

  Carlen