Bathroom MoveMe

So yesterday, I went into...well you know where to do the morning routine. We have My Utmost for His Highest in there, so I broke it open. The passage was on disillusionment (click on the word disillusionment to see the passage...this template doesn't do links well) and I have to say it MovedMe! (Pun somewhat intended)

Recently I've been really contemplating the whole concept of idols, some call them Functional Saviors. In other words, anything that we put in the place of Jesus in our lives. Specifically I've been wrestling, and more so watching others wrestle, with people bing our functional saviors.

Sometimes it can be church leadership or a boss or a spouse or even a doctor or therapist. If we see people as our actual savior rather than someone Jesus can use to help us, then we will be unhealthily disillusioned.

I say unhealthily disillusioned, because you can be healthily disillusioned! It really depends on your reaction after you realize that people or a certain person isn't your savior or idol, isn't going to save you or make your life better. Is our reaction bitterness, cynicism, and suspicion (unhealthy) or does it bring us closer to God realizing he is our all in all (healthy)?

Linda and I went through a horrible church split over 10 years ago. It rocked our worlds! Now I realize it rocked us so hard because we had put our faith in people, functionally. We didn't do it in words or make a statement of faith towards the Elders and Deacons, but our actions and our reaction to the split showed we had put them on a pedestal they did not belong on.

I also realize that God had ordained it in our lives so that we would grow closer to him and more dependent on him...and we have. For a few years there we were right on the edge of the bad disillusionment (well Linda was on the edge, I was full on there). If Jesus hadn't have come in a huge way we'd still be bitter, unusable Christians.

I know it's crude to talk about the other kind of movement, but while that was going on God was working in my heart. Moving me towards taking a new inventory. What functional saviors do I have in my life right now? What people have let me down? How am I reacting to this disillusionment?

How about you?