[Steve Myers] Someone said to me, "This is beautiful fall weather." And I responded by saying, "Yeah, but winter's not very far behind." I got to thinking about my comment and how negative that really was. I was already expecting the worst because winter can't be far behind, especially in the Northern Hemisphere. And I thought I cannot have that kind of an attitude. I should try to turn that around to have a more positive perspective.

And I started thinking about that a little bit, and I ran across a study that Harvard psychologists did a while back. And they did this in San Francisco. They took grade school kids, and they gave them an IQ test. And then they divided the kids up by pulling their names out of a hat. They gave them, assigned them to different teachers, and they told the teachers that the students that had the lowest IQ's, which they didn't know about at the time, actually had high potential to really perform well. So imagine getting these students who weren't at the top of the IQ list and being told they had high potential.

Well, guess how those teachers began to treat these students? They began to treat them as though they were special, and they began to give them special attention. And they began to expect the best from these students who had actually performed probably at the lowest levels before this. And the results were real. This wasn't a made up thing. They actually did a second test on these students. First graders, the first graders improved 27 IQ points. 27 IQ points. The second graders improved over 16 IQ points. Now you might say, well, first and second graders should improve that much.

But this was comparing them to their peers. And so it was an amazing study that because the teachers expected the best from their students the students actually responded. That's something I think we all need to take to heart.

What are our expectations?  How do we face the world every day? On an everyday basis do we expect the best from the day as we begin to face it? Well, that's a biblical principle. That's a Christ-like principle that we all should apply to our thinking.

There's a passage in Philippians I think that reflects this. It's right at the very beginning of the book, 1:20. The Apostle Paul related this by saying, it says, "According to my earnest expectation and hope" (Philippians 1:20). You see, even though Paul was a prisoner, even though Paul went through so many difficulties and so many trials, he still had high expectations, this expectation that was an earnest expectation.

In fact, other translations, the Easy to Read Version says this, "I am full of hope and feel sure I'll have no reason to feel ashamed." I want that kind of an attitude. I want that kind of perspective in my life. And you know, when we put God first and we realize that we should expect the best God says we will. We will because ultimately when we put this life behind us the expectations that God has for us are right there at the top. He wants to spend eternity with us.

Should that shape our thinking? I think it should. So let's go out and realize God wants the best for us, and let's expect the best.

That's BT Daily. We'll see you next time.