Her Expectations are Too High

I'm not too ashamed to admit that I do not do most of the cleaning in the house. I'm more of the maintenance guy. Listen, I try to do my part, and I'm never above helping when asked. Now that I've apologized for being a stereotypical male, I need to explain the real reason I do so little cleaning. Allie cleans better than me. And not just me. She probably cleans better than you. I imagine she detects dirt like The Terminator. Seriously, she has some sort of a sixth sense. When she worked at Chick-fil-a they would pay her just to come in and clean. So it's not just me, her expectations of "clean" are higher than the rest of us.

Imagine this very real scenario: Allie asks me to sweep the floor. So, I sweep to the best of my abilities. I know she is a strict inspector, so I go above and beyond. I sweep so thoroughly that I'm finding corners I've never seen! I put away the broom with confidence and consider the works of my hands with pride. I say to myself, "Ivey, you have done a great job." I kid you not, five minutes later I see her sweeping. I indignantly ask, "What are you doing? I just swept." She responds, "Oh, I just saw some stuff that needed another pass." I suspiciously watch her sweep up an entire dustpan of dirt. Dirt that I can only assume she pulled from the metaverse.

Her expectations for a clean house are too high for me. It doesn't mean that I stop trying, it just means I've resigned myself to understanding that I will never be on her level.

When we try to be good people, the ten commandments are the low bar. And yet, I find I can't keep most of them. Sure I've never murdered anyone but coveting and lying? Guilty. But just as we try our hardest to be good people, Jesus walks back through with discerning eyes and helps us understand the heart of the commandments. Yet, the heart of the commandments turn out to be even more strict than the commands themselves. It seems like Jesus is being unreasonable, and we realize we'll never reach his level. If we're going to be good people, we're going to need something more than a list of rules. That is the beauty of Jesus, he doesn't just tell us we'll never live up to his expectations on our own, he provides the solution to our problem.

I hope you'll join us tomorrow as we discover what that something else is.