No Expectations

(When used in this post Master = Parents, Boss, anyone of higher authority than you. )

I'd much rather serve a master, than do what he told me to do.

Meaning: I'd rather serve, than obey.... if that makes sense...

Hmmm Point of View.

If I'm serving God, then I'm obeying my master. The thing I'm afraid of is failing. When you server someone, you can't fail... because whatever your doing is:

1.Undeserved

or

2. Unexpected

Expectations. That's where the problem comes. I don't want to submit to someone else's expectations because those are fickle and they change on a whim. When you submit it always means you fail. It means you'll never reach the level of your master. That's terrifying to someone with a dominate personality. I aim to achieve. An unachievable goal will have me running in circles, in that case... why even try??

When I'm serving, the 'master' usually is 'pleased' because the control is in my hands. I can do the best and be pleased, knowing that I have given my master my best. Not to have the success of the job taken away. It all comes down to this:

1. I don't trust my master

2. I don't know that he won't be unreasonable

3. I don't know he won't hurt me

4. I don't know that he will protect me

However, I am ultimately not in my 'master's' hands. For there is a higher master, who is pleased at any and all obedience... even if the goal is unreachable, the obedience means a 'servants heart'. I am ultimately serving a God (master) who is:

1. Reasonable (Just, Honest, Remembers we are dust.)

2. Will not give me anything not worth having, (...everything works together for good)

3. Will not hurt me without good reason (Who can question God?)

4. Going to protect me (For Neither height nor depth... can separate us from God's love.)

5. Is pleased. (Therefore, there is now no condemnation)

And because I serve and obey that master, I know that I can trust Him to do all these things while still allowing the earthly master to be fallible.

I can obey my master, not just serve, because I am ultimately serving (meaning there are no expectations) a higher master, who has no expectations because they have been completed through Jesus Christ.

"Servants be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing. When, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God."

(1 Peter 2:18-20)

(speaking of Jesus:)

"When He was reviled, He did not revile in return: When He suffered He did not threaten, but continued trusting Himself to Him who judges justly."

(21)

"Humble yourselves, therefore under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you."

(5:6&7)