Great Expectations

In this country, disappointing people is the unofficial Eighth Deadly Sin. We see it everywhere— in our foreign policy, in the legions of mothers who can't say no to one more extra curricular activity, in celebrities who crash and burn because people make promises for them (“You're famous, you must have all the answers about _______,”) and then they feel obligated by the Disappointment Clause to fulfill those promises. Some voices are more compelling than others. They bombard us from billboards, insinuate from pulpits, some even belong to family members it feels traitorous to ignore.
But did the Lord say, “Thou shalt be a size three or forever dwell in ignominy?” Did He say, “Thou shalt be on a street corner every Thursday afternoon witnessing to passers-by or lose thy reward?” Did He say, “Thou shalt graduate from college or be doomed to the pittance your ignorance deserves?” Did He say, “Thou shouldst have been more like thy brother?”
No. He did not. What are His expectations?
Micah 6:8— “Do justly, love mercy, walk humbly.”
1Thess. 4:11— “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands.”
1Th 5:16-22— “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.”
Joh 15:12— “Love one another as I have loved you.”

If we are to walk crippled through this world, let it be with the crippling that comes from following in the footsteps of Jesus, and not that which comes from trudging under the burdens of men.