DISAPPOINTMENT

God knows everything; He is Omniscient!  God knows everything at the same time; He is Eternal and therefore not governed by time (Rom. 1:20; Eph. 1:4)!  It is therefore impossible to surprise Him.  And since He knows all that we have done and what we will do in the future, it is impossible to disappoint Him.  After all, one is only disappointed when something happens that differs from what one expects will occur.  In other words, God is incapable of having expectations.  Instead, He has eternal knowledge.

I often find myself disappointed by the behavior of those I love.  When someone claims to be a born again believer, I expect them to think, speak, and act as such.  Doesn't God's Word say that all who name the name of Christ should depart from iniquity (2 Tim. 2:19)?  In a way, that makes me like the lost of this world who see the imperfections of believers, and question whether or not they are really saved.  I think to myself, "How could a genuine believer do that?!"  It is so disappointing when members of my family, or members of my church, are found to be practicing sin; some of them have even been guilty of adultery, fornication, theft, drug addiction, alcoholism, lying . . . the list goes on and on. 

However, I am most often disappointed in myself, because, like the Apostle Paul, I struggle to live up to the example of Christ.  Paul wrote, "For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I" (Rom. 7:15).   And, like Paul, I see myself as a "wretched man" (Rom. 7:24).  And sadly, while I know God forgives me, my disappointment in myself also reveals that I am suffering from the sin of pride; I honestly never expected that I would think those thoughts, say those horrible things, or act in such a hateful way toward others.  And, to make things even more humiliating, I find others are often not quite so forgiving either.  As a result, I have hurt others, broken relationships, and ruined the opportunity to be a witness for Christ.

My problem is, I keep forgetting born again believers are "works in progress."  Paul wrote that he was "confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you (and me) will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:6).  We need to remember our part in the "metamorphosis" is to cooperate with God by allowing ourselves to be transformed into Christ's likeness (Rom. 12:1-2).  We will not be "butterflies" until we are standing in His presence (1 Jn. 3:2). 

The fact that I am disappointed in myself is really a good sign.  It means that I realize I am not what I should be, that I still need to rely upon Christ's righteousness instead of my own, and that, as a sinner, I can relate to those in my family and in my church who are also works in progress.  It keeps me from judging "another Man's servant" (Rom. 14:4), and compels me to pray for their forgiveness from God, just as I pray for my forgiveness from the Undisappointed One!

The only way one can be disappointed in others is if he forgets to look in the mirror!