Idealism is a pernicious interloper in the kingdom of God. Abstract and enticing it is nourished with choice scripture, stroked by congratulatory remarks, and vigorously defended as the cure for all that is not what it ought to be (and there is a lot of that).

Ought is the distance between what is, and the Ideal that is not. Hope, on the other hand, is the reality of goodness, present in what is. Idealism has no use for hope, therefore. It spoils the illusion.

[via The Philosophical Pastor]