I came across this verse tonight as I was reading through the Epistles, ‘Now we live with great expectations…’ 1 Peter 1:3.

It got me thinking a little bit. Do we live with great expectations? Or do we live with mediocre expectations? My inclination is the latter. I see it all to often to honestly believe we live our lives with great expectations. We become complacent and apathetic and satisfied and boring. As a worship leader I often wonder about the people I lead on Sunday mornings, if they are coming to worship with great expectations. Are they coming with a heart and life that’s willing to lose themselves before their Savior? And if not why?

Have we lost our passion? Have we lost our perspective on how much this God of ours truly does love us? I remember a decade ago, I was an intern at a mega church out in Las Vegas. It was a great time of ministry and personal growth. And being out in Vegas presented itself with opportunities to see and even meet some famous people. Here are a few… Mark McGrath (lead singer of Sugar Ray), Jason Behr (lead actor on the WB’s Roswell), John Thompson (Georgetown’s former basketball coach), and last but not least, Mike Tyson. I actually had a conversation with Iron Mike and it was so surreal. And let me tell you, his voice is not an exaggeration. I remember telling everyone I could for the next couple of weeks about this encounter. It was crazy. In fact, on rare occasions, I’ll still tell the story.

There are encounters in the Gospels between everyday ordinary people that meet Jesus and are transformed. And they can’t wait to tell people about what the Lord has done. They tell whole communities, towns, and even countries! And what do we do? Some will tell family and friends and maybe even co-workers and then after a while it begins its slow fade. This is unfortunate. We should be just as excited today as we were the day we were saved! This is the most exciting moment in our lives and it continues everyday of our lives until Christ returns. Why does it become so ordinary?

Let’s live for the Kingdom. Let’s lose ourselves in light of who God is. Let’s live with Great Expectations!