Have you been feeling like life has been a string of disappointments recently? Maybe it has been a family member that has let you down or an unexpected bout with COVID that landed you in quarantine. Maybe you are disappointed in our culture or the restrictions that seem to linger on and on. Maybe you are disappointed in others don’t share the same perspective as you have on the pandemic (or other matters). Whatever the source of your disappointment, it often leads to a feeling of discouragement, a dismal outlook, and a feeling of hopeless defeat.

No matter the circumstance that causes it, disappointment always comes from the same root cause. When your mindset, expectations or desires are set on a particular outcome and reality does not match up with our hopes, we feel disappointment. We make plans that get changed on us. We invest in people who turn their back on us. We do our best to make wise decisions for our lives only to see others who are doing the opposite and infringing on our happiness in the process. Disappointment is a reality in a fallen world.

We rarely have control over outcomes, circumstances or the behaviors of other people. So, the means to deal with disappointment in life is to adjust our expectations and desires. Colossians 3:1 tells us, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.” In other words, for believers (those risen with Christ), we need to put our mindset, expectations and desires on something that is greater than our current situation. We need to reset our expectations and place them in something greater than this world. This is the most un-natural place for us to put our expectations. While our future home is in heaven, the reality of our current lives is here on earth. As a result, we often have short-sighted, earthly hopes and creates expectations in things, situations and people that are bound to disappoint.

It might have been the people of Colosse were dealing with disappointment as well. Paul follows the first verse with another one – “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” (Colossians 3:2). You see, we tend to put our hopes in the things of this world because that is where our affections lie. We get immediate feedback from the things of this world. The human rollercoaster of emotion rides on the rails of the circumstances of this world. So, it is natural for us to “get our hopes up” when we see the next expected “high” that we believe this world’s circumstances will bring. Instead of waiting for the next natural “high” from live, we need to be living for and focused on the “higher things” that the Lord has promised to us. He will never disappoint.

You still might not be convinced. The truth is that it’s hard to get your head out of this world. Paul offers the Colossian church the big picture perspective in verse three - “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:3). If you have been made alive in Christ, you have been made dead to your sin as well as to your own desires and will. They don’t matter anymore and should no longer have an impact on your thinking. Too often we identify ourselves too closely to this world, but as a believer, you are to be fully identified with Jesus Christ. As Paul puts it to the Galatians, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Galatians 2:20). In other words, you may still have disappointments, but your disappointments will no longer be about YOU.

Of everyone that has ever experienced disappointment, we should realize that nobody has been more disappointed than God himself. He created mankind, revealed himself to us, and set us up with a perfect world. We sinned and marred His creation. We questioned His existence. We allowed our pride to bring us to constant rebellion against Him. When He sent His son as our means of redemption, we reviled and crucified Him. Yes, God knew all these things would happen, but I have to believe that He still felt some disappointment in all of it. Yet, the Bible tells us that He still loves us, still wants a relationship with us, and wants us to spend an eternity with Him. He gives us the means to live above our circumstances, set our expectations on greater things, and be identified with Him. When we set our hopes, expectations and desires on the promises of the Lord, we will never be disappointed.