Usually we think of the word “disillusioned” in a negative context. Someone who is disillusioned is a malcontent, a wild-eyed radical, a complainer.
I’d like to reframe that word, to put it in a different light. Think about the word literally: it means to be freed from illusion. Those who are disillusioned are those who have seen the truth. And once the bright light of truth has shone in one’s heart, the illusion is no longer good enough. The truth ruins you to the lie.
And is there a greater lie facing Christians today than the myth of “performance Christianity”? The notion that Christians have a set of rules they live by, rules that make us good enough to be part of the club. I’m not talking about our call to live a holy life. I’m talking about the outward pressure of performance that leads us to exclude the screwed up, messy, broken people who can’t seem to get it together.
Here’s the truth: It’s time for me to let down the façade and stop pretending that I’m something other than what I am: a failure. It’s time, in fact, for all of us to admit that we don’t have it as “together” as we’ve led others to believe. It’s this inability to open up and let others see who we really are that is at the root of much of the ineffectiveness and irrelevance going on in what is known as “Christianity” today.
Let go of the illusion…become disillusioned. Refuse to let the false front of performance Christianity to rule your life with guilt any longer. Lift the curtain and let others see what’s really there. Jesus said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” He gave His life to bring that freedom.
Do you have the courage to live in that glorious, disillusioned freedom?
Quitting Christianity 
#1 by Rick McConnell on January 27, 2011 - 12:48 PM
Great comments Dave. You are sounding more like C.S. Lewis or Deitric Bonhoefer all the time…
#2 by Dave Kirby on January 27, 2011 - 2:29 PM
That’s high company indeed. I skipped right over Max Lucado and Chuck Swindoll!
Thanks Rick…although I don’t belong even in the shadow of guys like that.
#3 by Erica on February 8, 2011 - 4:34 PM
Excellent post!
#4 by Katie Bjärgvide (@good_goin_grace) on March 12, 2013 - 6:25 PM
Amen! I just wrote a blog on this very theme, and you really said what I wanted to say in a more clear way, the point about disallusionment not being a bad thing- it being a map to get back on the right track to get to the basics. That’s what I’ve been writing about, actually. God bless you. I pray that you will have divine appointments with people coming across this when they really need to.