Two weeks ago at my working place, we had a chance to meet our NEW ‘top’ executive. After his speech, he held a “Q&A (question and answer)” session for the employees who want to ask him questions. One of the questions being raised was, “You are given the job to come here, what is your directive from the above?”  He thought a little bit and responded, “Apart from ‘Don’t screw it up’, there is really not much I can say.” I was impressed by his answer.  This seemingly simple directive – don’t screw it up – represents an expectation from someone who is with authority and in addition, it needs a commitment and persistence from whoever receives it to carry out.

At my working place, our performance and conduct are assessed every year. It is a system being set up for employees in order to maintain certain standard of performance in the company. Are we always up to expectations without screwing it up? Probably not! Is the system always fair without fallacies? Probably not, either! Some people would feel that he / she is forced to accept the evaluation regardless whether he / she likes it or not.

Analogously, I am sure you have your expectations from your children, if you are given the opportunity to bring them up. Are they always meeting your expectations? Probably not! We call these are growing pains – for both parents and kids – in order to lessen our disappointment. Yes, it does bear some truth in it. However, this also brings us two possible aspects. One could be our incorrect expectation from our children and the other could be our children’ unwillingness to commit to our expectation.

2000+ years ago, there is a man who was given a directive from the above to sacrifice his life in order to complete a plan from the above.  His name is Jesus. When He was sent by God to this world, He was expected to complete the task of propitiation on humankind’s behalf. Has Jesus met God’s expectation? Certainly! Apostle John, in his recording of Jesus’ crucifixion on the cross, indicated to us that Jesus said, “It is finished. 成了！(John 19:30)”. 

Without Jesus’ commitment in submitting to God’s plan, we are still under the dominion of darkness. Apostle Paul told us that death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come 然而從亞當到摩西死就作了王、連那些不與亞當犯一樣罪過的、也在他的權下．亞當乃是那以後要來之人的豫像. (Romans 5:14). And, “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive在亞當裡眾人都死了．照樣、在基督裡眾人也都要復活” Because of Jesus’ commitment in completing His task, we – whoever believes in Him – are made alive in Him. What an accomplishment!

My dear friends, do you know what God’s expectation from you is? He is expecting you to believe that His son, Jesus Christ, has finished the task of being a sin offering for our sins. With that belief, you can then have redemption and He can rescue you from the dominion of darkness and brought you into the kingdom of the Son He loves. Please remember that there is a time limit to our journey of life in this world. And, there is no doubt in my mind that at the end of our life journey, we will be evaluated. At that time, my dear friends, can you say that “I didn’t screw it up” in front of God?