Can't let God down

So I posted this video on my Facebook page last night and I woke up this morning thinking about it. In fact, I've been thinking about it all day.

It's a Christian skit put on by two guys, but the skit kind of hit me between the eyes. In the skit, which I will post below, one guy represents God who shows up with a hammer and chisel to chisel out the things in the other guy's life that don't belong.

Several things in the video made me think, but the one that was such an eye opener for me was when the guy told God that he had let him down so many times. God's response? "No, you were never holding me up. I hold you up with my victorious righteous right hand and don't you forget that. In this relationship, I hold you up."

I have often struggled with feeling how much I've let God down and how disappointed He must be in me. So when I heard that in this skit, it just hit me hard. I don't hold God up, so I can't let God down. God holds me up, so He can let me down, but He is perfect and therefore won't let me down. I may think He has let me down because I may put unrealistic expectations on Him, but for what He has promised, He will never let me down.

Furthermore, God knows my future. He has no expectations that I can let Him down in because He knows what I'm going to do before I do it. It is impossible to let God down because He has no unrealistic expectations. He has no need for expectations in His infinite knowledge of us. He knows the mistakes I'm going to make before I make them. When I make them, I'm not letting Him down. Rather, He's holding me in His hand, ready to chisel, to discipline me, not in anger for my making mistakes, but in love for wanting to help me, like a father would love His naive child.

I think expectations are a human invention. I think we all have them and we place them on others without them realizing it and we become disappointed when others don't do what we expect them to do. So I think we should strive to live without expectations - of others and of ourselves. We should live each day striving to live as the Bible commands, and when we mess up, to realize we haven't let God down, because He is holding us up and nothing is a surprise to Him. In fact, He accepted us when we first made a commitment to Him knowing all the mistakes, all the sins we would commit for the rest of our live as His children, and still has chosen to accept us with that knowledge. We cannot let God down, we need only surrender to His love and discipline for our lives.