The Discipline Of Disillusionment

Scripture

But Jesus didn’t trust them, because He knew all about people. No one needed to tell Him about human nature, for He knew what was in each person’s heart.

John 2:24-25, NLT

Quote

If we place our trust in human beings, we will end up being cynical of everyone.

~Oswald Chambers

The passage above has been taken out of context by the Calvinist who interpret it to mean, Jesus saves some but refuses to save others. Jesus saves all who come to Him in repentance and faith. The passage is not talking about salvation. Jesus was new to Jerusalem. The folks in Jerusalem had not seen Him do miracles before and were enamored, enthralled and impressed with His miraculous power. In other words, they were casual admirers. They were curious and fascinated but they were not making a commitment. This sudden trend of popularity did not fool Jesus; He knew that these kind of believers cannot be counted on. They were curious but not convicted and certainly not converted.

There is a valuable lesson in this story for us. We humans are bad to sit high expectations for others; even for our own children. When they don’t meet our expectations, it becomes hard for us not to show our disappointment. When we have unrealistic expectations for the behavior of others, it can lead to disillusionment or even cynicism. We become embittered and we get down on people. This is a common problem especially for young people. Over time we learn to lower our expectations. We all have weaknesses and faults: some that we recognize and some that we don’t but we should all understand: NO ONE IS PERFECT. Is it possible for our good friend or neighbor to lose his temper and say some unkind things? Yes and it is possible that we can do the same thing. If we can’t live up to a perfect standard, why do we expect others to do so. Never idolize another human; it will lead to disappointment. We are to respect our parents and our leaders but not worship them–they are humans and they will make mistakes.

I grew up idolizing my mother and demonizing my father. How did that happened? I don’t know. She beat the hades out of me on a regular basis where as he whipped me not more than a half dozen times my entire life. When I finally grew up, I came to realize that my mother was not perfect and my daddy was not as bad as I thought. I am not bitter about either one. I love and appreciate them both. I think the world of my daddy even though he had glaring faults. He was very fluent in French if you know what I mean. The man was a giver; he had a generous heart and he loved his neighbors. I celebrate the good and accept the fact that my daddy was human. When I surrendered to preach; Daddy was unexcited, as if he could care less but before it was over, he was my biggest supporter. No matter where I preached: if Daddy could get there by car, he would show up and most of the time, he was by himself. Lower your expectations for others and don’t expect anyone to be perfect.

Extra

I enjoyed the two days with cloud cover but the temps kept creeping up yesterday and I was in the Honda. The Honda has horrible air. On hot days, you run it on high and and even Big Mama runs it on high–that is how bad it is but it uses less gas. May be four days in a row on attending COLS. Mrs. Virginia Penney passed away yesterday. She was going to be 99 in September. One thing we celebrate, she got to stay at RIVER SIDE right up until he end and it is not a nursing home. Carrie Beth, if you are reading this {probably not}, I want to go to River Side when y’all put me in a Home.

I probably told you yesterday but can’t remember: Gregg is home and doing wonderful. Those are his words.

Have a great day and thanks for reading the blog.

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