I told Ed, my old neighbour in Saskatchewan, that we visited the Craigdarroch Castle on our recent trip to Victoria, B.C. Approximately 100,000 visitors view this castle each year. It was completed in 1890 as a home for coal barren Robert Dunsmuir. The castle reflects the barren’s wealth in four floors of exquisite stained-glass windows, intricate woodwork, and lavish Victorian-era furnishings.
Ed knew we were also viewing some mobile homes for sale in Victoria, and he said that we must have been disillusioned with simple house trailers compared to the castle. I said, “Hardly, the last thing we need is 25,573 square feet of castle to clean.
The castle is magnificent in its craftsmanship and beauty, but it was a home of disappointment as Robert Dunsmuir passed away before it was completed, and only his wife and three daughters lived there. Moreover, I told Ed that my wife, who walks with a cane, was not enchanted with climbing 89 stairs to the top of the castle, as there is no elevator.
My old neighbour said I should have carried my wife up the four flights of 20 stairs plus nine more to the lookout turret. So, I told Ed, “The second last thing that I need to do is to offer to carry my wife up or down any stairs. If I offered, she would be sure I was out of mind as I huff and puff up and down stairs on my own. ”
Disillusionment begins with our thinking of what another person should have or could have done better. Some folks are hard to please and become so cynical toward another that any agreement is out of the question. In our minds or thoughts, others have let us down or disappointed us. Sometimes, the person we have placed a great deal of faith in turns out to be less than ideal in our way of thinking, and our respect for them disappears.
The Bible speaks of a group of Jews who became disillusioned with Jesus beginning at John 8:31. Although they believed in Jesus, they became offended at what Jesus said to them. Jesus said to them, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
The Jews were confused and concerned at Jesus’s words and told him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” The Jews were focused on being the descendants of Abraham.
Jesus told them that as descendants of Abraham, they were not free of sin or the slavery of sin. He was the Son of God, able to set them free from sin’s doom. He told them the truth as one from the presence of God the Father. Jesus acknowledged that they, as the descendants of Abraham, were ready to kill him for his words challenged their security in being children of Abraham. They were disillusioned and resentful of Jesus and his words. (John 8: 31-39)
Some folks will never admit they are wrong or have done wrong. But, Jesus said, if you sin, you are a slave to sin and need my freedom from sin's curse. Believe Him, if you sin.
