The Teaching of Disillusionment

      “Jesus did not commit Himself to them …, for He knew what was in man” (John 2:24–25).

     Disillusionment means having no more misconceptions, false impressions, and false judgments in life; it means being free from these deceptions. However, though no longer deceived, our experience of disillusionment may actually leave us cynical and overly critical in our judgment of others. But the disillusionment that comes from God brings us to the point where we see people as they really are, yet without any cynicism or any stinging and bitter criticism. Many of the things in life that inflict the greatest injury, grief, or pain, stem from the fact that we suffer from illusions. We are not true to one another as facts, seeing each other as we really are; we are only true to our misconceived ideas of one another. According to our thinking, everything is either delightful and good, or it is evil, malicious, and cowardly.

     Refusing to be disillusioned is the cause of much of the suffering of human life. And this is how that suffering happens—if we love someone, but do not love God, we demand total perfection and righteousness from that person, and when we do not get it we become cruel and vindictive; yet we are demanding of a human being something which he or she cannot possibly give. There is only one Being who can completely satisfy to the absolute depth of the hurting human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord is so obviously uncompromising with regard to every human relationship because He knows that every relationship that is not based on faithfulness to Himself will end in disaster. Our Lord trusted no one, and never placed His faith in people, yet He was never suspicious or bitter. Our Lord’s confidence in God, and in what God’s grace could do for anyone, was so perfect that He never despaired, never giving up hope for any person. If our trust is placed in human beings, we will end up despairing of everyone.

Miss Liberty

     I’ll never forget the first time I saw in person the Statue of Liberty in the New York harbor. As a young soldier at the time, it really made me proud to be an American. Yes, there is something special about “Miss Liberty” that evokes a strong feeling of the meaning of freedom. But let me draw your attention to another symbol which stands as a visual reminder of the real central truth of freedom and liberty that being the Cross of Jesus.
     Our freedom in the United States symbolized by Miss Liberty is rapidly eroding away causing one to conclude that those freedoms we as Americans have cherished so many years are not eternal. The only sure eternal symbol is the Cross pointing to the sacrifice and finished work of Jesus which makes available life and freedom to every person who believes and accepts Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God who died on the cross for them.
     Therefore, this 4^th of July let up ponder our freedom and work together by demanding smaller government intervention in our lives, and do our part to help restore liberty and freedom to our great nation. Trust God and pray.

The Strictest Discipline

“If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell” (Matthew 5:30).

Jesus did not say that everyone must cut off his right hand, but that “if your right hand causes you to sin” in your walk with Him, then it is better to “cut it off.” There are many things that are perfectly legitimate, but if you are going to concentrate on God you cannot do them. Your right hand is one of the best things you have, but Jesus says that if it hinders you in following His precepts, then “cut it off.” The principle taught here is the strictest discipline or lesson that ever hit humankind. When God changes you through regeneration, giving you new life through spiritual rebirth, your life initially has the characteristic of being maimed. There are a hundred and one things that you dare not do—things that would be sin for you, and would be recognized as sin by those who really know you. But the unspiritual people around you will say, “What’s so wrong with doing that? How absurd you are!” There has never yet been a saint who has not lived a maimed life initially. Yet it is better to enter into life maimed but lovely in God’s sight than to appear lovely to man’s eyes but lame to God’s. At first, Jesus Christ through His Spirit has to restrain you from doing a great many things that may be perfectly right for everyone else but not right for you. Yet, see that you don’t use your restrictions to criticize someone else. The Christian life is a maimed life initially, but in verse 48 Jesus gave us the picture of a perfectly well-rounded life—“You shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”