I recently read a Christian author’s thoughts on how God is disillusioned with us.  This was a startling opinion because the definition of disillusioned is “disappointed in someone or something that one discovers to be less good than one had believed.”  But this author went on to say that God doesn’t have any illusions about us.  He knows our hearts and knows who we really are.

Psalm 139:3 (NASB) says, “You scrutinize my path and my lying down and are intimately acquainted with all my ways.”  What does God see when he looks at me?  He sees more than I let other people see because he knows my heart, my path, all my ways.  With other people I can hide some of the imperfect parts – at least for a time.  With God, everything is revealed.  Psalm 139:13 (NASB):  “For You formed my inward parts; you wove me in my mother’s womb.”  I cannot hide anything from God, but the good news is he loves me anyway.  He loves me even if he is disillusioned – has no illusions – about me.

How many times have you entered into a loving relationship with no illusions?  I would say not very often.  We fall in love with someone thinking they are perfect.  It is only after we get to know them intimately that we realize they are imperfect as we are.  Sometimes we let our disillusionment destroy the relationship.  We know that most people will eventually disappoint, let us down, or reveal a part of themselves we don’t like. But we are still surprised, dismayed, and hurt when it happens. The challenge for us, as Christians, is to love people even when we are disillusioned.  Love others when they are real.  In other words, to love others as God loves us.

Can we love someone even when we are disillusioned?  Or do we expect others to be perfect even while we want them to accept us in our imperfection?  I think God puts other people in our lives so we can practice loving as he loves.  Which means loving without illusions.  Seeing other people as real and loving them in that reality.  God doesn’t love us because we are perfect.  God loves us because we belong to him.  Can we give this gift of accepting love – disillusioned love – to others?