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Cynicism is always driven by fear of the future or by anger regarding the past. Either we’re afraid of something that might not ever occur, or we project something that has occurred onto all the days that are to come.
We buy into the lie that it’s too risky to be vulnerable or hope for good things.
Cynicism is destroying our ability to delight in the world around us and fully engage with others. God has an abundance of joy and delight for us, and we’re missing it with arms crossed.
Delight in God and His goodness tears down our walls and allows hope, trust, and worship to flood in.
when God enters our lives, He works in us and makes our lives “brighter and more beautiful.”
Cynicism erodes our ability to see God rightly.
Cynicism is interpreting the world and God based on hurt you’ve experienced and the wounds that still lie gaping open. It forces you to look horizontally at people rather than vertically to God.
In my time with Curt, I sensed Paul saying, “Look. Either you can try to guard your heart and mind on your own, or you can surrender that guardianship to God.”
Beauty is God’s evidence of something far more wonderful coming, a world beyond the one we can imagine, even in the most spectacular moments here. A God better than what we hope for. A God who blows our minds.
Beauty points our gaze toward the heavens and reminds us of hope.
“I shall open my eyes and ears. Once every day I shall simply stare at a tree, a flower, a cloud, or a person. I shall not then be concerned at all to ask what they are but simply be glad that they are.”7
Whatever it was that was weighing us down, God would gladly lift from our backs.
There is such intention. Such craftsmanship. Such incredible functionality. Such beauty. Such proof.
Goodness is meant not to merely make us feel good but to point us to God.
all things beautiful and excellent and just—they are what soften a doubting heart, what bring sanity to a chaotic mind map.
Beauty is evidence of something beyond ourselves. Beauty is evidence of a world yet to come. Beauty is evidence of a Creator who is loving and profoundly delightful. Beauty floods in and interrupts when, instead of cynicism, we choose trust.
When the enemy invites us to taste the fruit of self-importance and “be like God,”4 we can choose instead to take up our cross and follow Jesus, knowing that our identity is anchored in Him alone. But everything in our human nature will fight against it.
we weren’t built to be the center of our own worlds.
But lasting joy will come only when God is in the center; not when I am empowered but when I rest in His power.
Then I remember Jesus. Guiltless and wrongfully accused. Yet still completely humble of heart.
Paul pointed to Jesus as our guide for how to let go of greatness. In Philippians 2, he wrote, “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.”9
Jesus humbled Himself deeply so that we’d be compelled to live lives of deep humility too.
We all want to be awesome, even as Christ is the only awesome one.
Humility reminds us of this truth. It says, “Relax. Your only hope is Jesus.” It is good news and grants us the exhale we all are craving.
Matthew 6:33 promises as we cast away our own worries, God promises to care for us.
An amazing thing happens when we “cast away self,” which is that we then have space to consider others.
The fiery Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon once said, “Your own spiritual beauty may be very much measured by what you can see in other people.”
Joy comes when we lay aside our power and rest in God’s. Joy comes when we put the emphasis where it belongs: on God’s awesomeness, not our own.17
“Father, help me choose the pleasure of humility today.” It’s a place to start.
Instead of fixating on the unfairness of her circumstance and stewing over how she deserved something better, something that used her skills and education to best effect, she began to see her less-than-fulfilling job as an opportunity to advance the kingdom.
Instead of looking for things to complain about, my friend was now looking for reasons to give thanks.
rewiring her brain by choosing gratitude.
“Once you start seeing things to be grateful for, your brain starts looking for more things to be grateful for.”4
As we make the shift from debilitating lines of thinking to thoughts that are helpful and God honoring and wise, we can make the choice to be grateful. We can be people who consistently and sincerely give thanks, regardless of our wounded pasts or the circumstances we now face.
only when we’re planted in the soil of gratitude will we learn and grow and thrive: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”9
But this struggle is not who she is.
we can observe our suffering without being overtaken by our suffering. We can see it without becoming its slave.
“But I decided to make a choice,” she said with bravery. “I am choosing to trust again.”
In Jesus, we can change where we fight from without changing what we fight for.
By choosing gratitude over victimhood, Paul centered his thoughts on God’s purpose behind the pain.
Don’t you and I look back on the roughest of times and see that they have brought the most profound growth?
suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”14
And because the devil is subtle, my cravings for these things in that season kept growing and my zealous passion for souls and the things of God weakened. I had no desire to go to the grocery store, let alone go to the nations with God’s message of grace.
“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”2 Why? Because as those who have been buried in Christ and raised in faith, we have already died to the things of this world. Our real life is bound up with Christ.
You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
“stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks.”4
When we are faithful to watch for opportunities to serve, when we live our lives at the ready for the Master’s call, we’re the ones who get served in the end. Our Master will actually tend to our every need.
You and I were custom designed to play a role in God’s eternal story and to experience deep purpose, not to while away our time with snacks and flicks. We want more than that, and there’s a reason we do. God made us to crave so much more.
‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.’ ”11
We go where God says to go. We stay when God says to stay. We lean in when God whispers our name. We serve when He asks us to serve.
