Our Illusionment of People

"Jesus did not commit Himself to them..., for He knew what was in man"

(John 2:24-25)

 

 

When it comes to personal relationships with people, such as family and friends, it is so easy getting critical of them because they don't meet up to the expectations and standard we expect of them. This is especially true in the family of God. We expect better behaviour from fellow brethren and sisters in Christ then we do of nonChristians in the world. This of course results in us becoming cynical, harsh and critical in our judgments of them. However, it is true that for the Christian there is a much higher standard of living expected of him or her. "Be ye holy; for I am holy" (1 Pet. 1: 16; Lev. 11: 44). In the classic devotional "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers gives this insight on disillusionment:

 

 

"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." (MUFHH: July 30 reading).

 

You see our illusion of people is rooted in our misconception of what we expect of them. For when God is not at the centre of our lives, then we set people up in our lives to be our little gods, demanding of them absolute perfection that is not in them to give us.  Also, how dare we expect of them what we ourselves cannot give as well. No one should ever expect this of anyone except for God. This is a lesson I had to learn as well. There was a time I had high expectations of my fellow brethren and sisters in Christ, when they failed to deliver, I became angry, frustrated, and critical of them. This certainly had an affect on my spiritual life as well as my relationship with God. For I was not putting Christ at the centre of my life. (To be continued)