Winning the War Against Cynicism

If we allow cynicism and a critical spirit to seize the day within our soul we will find ourselves justifying the way in which we define others according to either their worst day, their most inconvenient and frustrating weakness, or the conclusions we project upon them. Often, our conclusions are projections of our own insecurity and bear little resemblance to the person we are distancing ourselves from.

In doing so, we have made the declaration in our soul, “I have no need of you!” We have decided who we can live without. We have written one another off. We have settled for lukewarm love at best as a mechanism for self-protection.

A vibrant spirit responsive to God's leadership over many years comes as we fight to believe the whole story about people - even our enemies - as God tells it. Often the stories we tell ourselves to feel justified, right, and superior to those who have wronged us are the ones that do great damage to our hearts over time.

The Holy Spirit is stirring many around the body of Christ to declare war on the forces within our own soul that settle with “necessary division” within Christ’s Church. There is a holy awakening underway to help believers worldwide see one another with new eyes of mercy and hope, compassion and graciousness, and then something more: need. In an era of the quick cancellation, we are called to love the societal exiles. To receive them. To fight for them.

We who were once exiles, cast out and overlooked, can love and cherish the modern exiles and cancelled ones. We can tell them of the God that loves them, and fights for them, even when society writes them off. Our gospel is so much bigger than the moral code of our merciless world. This is our privilege, and we must fight for a tender heart free of all cynicism to walk in the fullness of it.