Chambers uses a passage which he seems to have used before. It's a confusingly written pair of sentences in John's Gospel, 2:24-25. In it John explains Jesus' reaction to people at the feast of Passover in Jerusalem believing in Him. John says that Jesus did not trust them, or believe them. John says Jesus reacts this way because He knew them and what was in them. Chambers points out that knowing this, Jesus never became bitter or cynical toward people. That is a "trick" I have never learned.
One thing that addicts of any sort can agree on is that resentment drives the triggers of our addictions. There may be shame, fear, grief, and a dozen other things as well, and we may be addicted to chemicals, activities, or excess. But intertwined through all of the addictive cycles, behaviors, and thinking will be resentment. Resentment, for an addict, is the ticket enabling us to continue to ride the circular puke-coaster. It's always somebody else's fault. Jesus never went there.
So, the perspective of my Master toward the world I live in, the world He created, the creation He watched derail and go headlong toward destruction, is not based on illusions He maintains about our "potential". But it is also not based on a bitter cynical plan to let us all burn to appease His frustration with how we turned out, after He gave us so much, to treat Him so poorly. I would be on the bitter cynical train personally, and my wife and daughter could probably testify to that I've spent my time on it too. But that is not the way of my Master.
Chambers is right on, and even takes a somewhat philosophical bent in this entry. What I need is to see people as my Master sees them. That means without illusions of what they should or could be, without bitterness or cynicism because they are not what they could or should be, and with the loving grace which has been poured out so liberally in my own life by my Master. I have been given much, from me much will be required. That requirement includes disillusioned acceptance of the mass (well, small town mass anyway) of humanity around me.
The current political upheaval regarding national debt brings a lot of unsavory people to the news. The perspective of my Master is not surprise or disappointment, but loving acceptance and desire for the person. So, regardless of which side of the aisle I agree with, or even if I think both sides are full of malarkey, there is no room for both my resentments, bitterness, and cynicism and the love and grace of my Master. Jesus said so plainly it hurts, "My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart" (Matthew 18:35 NASB). There's not a lot of "gray area" here.
To disconnect these two, disillusionment without bitterness and cynicism connected to forgiveness because we have been forgiven, is to make a huge mistake. And, yes, I make huge mistakes, but this one will cost me. The treatment of the unforgiving slave in Matthew 18 was not pleasant, and came from the Master. That is not where I want to be. The disillusionment of my Master needs to be my own. The threat behind not accepting His perspective is clear, and frightening.
Addicts have another saying, gleaned from what we call the "Big Book" but is actually much older, "There, but for the grace of God, go I." That statement puts me on the right road to disillusionment of the proper sort. If I really want that disillusionment that my Master uses, then I must take a seat with the accused, see them and accept them as the frail people I know myself to be, and along with them, accept the grace and love of my Master. They may not, but with the perspective of being with them in the crush of human evil, I will better see them as my Master does. He does not raise me to some pedestal. He sees me as one of His human creatures. And I am. I am not some special distinct human creature. What makes any distinction in me at all from anyone else is the selection of my Master. But He also makes such overtures to others.
So, today, I will be another traveler along the back roads of rural Nevada. I will be one of those who slow everyone else on a narrow highway, I will be just like anyone making their way, fast or slow, to some destination. I can become frustrated, cynical, bitter, and resentful. Or I can see myself as one of them, recognize the vast grace of my Master poured out on me in spite of my humanity, and turn that appreciation toward those in my way, loving them as my Master has loved me, forgiving them as I have been forgiven, and enjoying the peace of the countryside through which my Master leads me. Can you tell I'm looking forward to this drive? It's spiritual exercise, school is now in session. Chapter 1…
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