Devotion: Greater Faith Fewer Gaps
“… you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Mark 12:31
In my sermon this past weekend, I spoke about my aversion to expectations. We have started a new worship series, based on expectations and gaps in our faith. In the coming weeks we will explore how the gaps we have between what we expect from our relationship God, differs from our experience. If we can bridge these gaps, we will have greater faith.
In my sermon, I spoke a bit about how our cultural norms, at first blush, make it appear as though we all love ourselves so much. We certainly build ourselves up and spoil ourselves with much of what we purchase. But when we dig deep into our motivations, much of our behavior is rooted in something other than a true love of self. As a matter of fact, I find it interesting how insidiously rooted our self-loathing can be.
I invite you to listen to the sermon on your own, but for now I’ll share a phenomenon that is my own, which I hope may also strike a chord with you.
My personal tendency is less about wanting to spoil or pamper myself. On the contrary, I tend to want to outwork and “over give” to all those around me. As a result, others see my behavior as benevolent, and they see this as part of what makes me an effective pastor. But when I am honest with myself, my giving behavior can come from a really bad place. Even more, it exposes a hurtful part of my relationship with God.
In his book, The Expectation Gap, Pastor Steve Cuss writes about how we often put our relationship with God in a different category than every other relationship. I know I am guilty of just this. Sometimes, when I am tired and burdened, my “over-giving” doesn’t feel very good. That’s because I can see God as a relentless taskmaster, who loves me so little, that he expects me to do nothing other than give myself to the point of depletion. When I get feeling like this, my healthiest response is to ask myself the same questions I ask of you, members of Sheridan’s family of faith. Today the questions I ask myself is, “Does putting God in a different category than others help or hurt your relationship with God?” and, “Does this category make you more or less anxious regarding your faith?”
My friends, we all have our own stuff… our own issues… and our own demons with whom we fight. The key is not ignoring them or purchasing our way to being numb, but rather articulating them – first to yourself and then to those you trust.
I dare say, God loves you in ways that are radically beyond what you can understand, so putting God in a category that hurts your relationship is displeasing to God. Let God love you! I am trying desperately hard to do this… I hope you’ll join me!
Gracious God, open us up to the love you have for us. And grant us the wisdom to let go of all the expectations, and to simply love you in return. We pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Written by Pastor Greg Bouvier
Pastor Greg heard God’s call to Sheridan in 1999 and that began a journey which has become his life’s work. Having played a variety of roles as pastor of Sheridan, Pastor Greg was called as the Senior Pastor in 2011. He leads the staff and his primary focus is on the creation of culture, the overall direction of worship and partnering with our amazing team. Pastor Greg has been married to Rose for more than 30 years and together they have two servant-hearted grown children.