Great Expectations Summary This essay argues that much Christian frustration springs from unbiblical expectations—about life, church, and even salvation itself. Drawing on 1 John, it contends that Scripture gives us the “normal” Christian life: assurance rooted in believing and confessing Jesus as the Son of God and Lord (1 John 5:13; Rom. 10:9–10), not in cultural myths or self-invented promises. Historically, even the first-century church faced false teachers and schisms, s