think of yourself as a skeptical person, you
know, kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop?
Do you see kind of the world with that half empty
glass instead of half full? That mentality is
what some people call cynicism. And today we're
going to learn how pervasive it is, how it steals
our joy, and how we can learn to make it go away.
Stay with me. Thanks for listening to this edition
of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. We are
an international teaching and discipleship ministry
that motivates Christians to live like Christians.
Well, as many of you know, Chip's our regular
Bible teacher for this daily program. But for
this series, he's passed the mic to our friend
Jenny Allen. Now, Jenny is an accomplished author,
national speaker, and founder of the If Gathering
events. We're a little over halfway through her
series, Get Out of Your Head. So far, Jenny's
identified a handful of toxic thoughts that can
rot our minds and provided biblical remedies
to combat them. And to help you continue to get
the most out of this series, let me encourage
you to download our message notes. They contain
Jenny's outline, scripture references, and more.
Get them by visiting the broadcasts tab at livingontheedge
.org. App listeners tap fill in notes. Okay,
if you're ready, here's Jenny with her message,
The Antidote for Cynicism. So we are diving into
the different enemies that attack our mind. And
today we're going to talk about one that I see
everywhere. And the tricky one with this is it's
actually valued by most of us. It's not something
we typically fight because I think it's something
that we respect in people. It's something we
think is really helpful in life. And it's called
cynicism. And I see it everywhere. So I don't
know if you even notice it in yourself. So I
wanted to read a few questions because honestly,
I think we've all become cynical, but it's kind
of the air we breathe. So we don't even notice
it. I want to ask you a few questions that would
kind of be a good self -diagnostic tool to see
if you are cynical. So do you get annoyed when
people are optimistic? So I want you to answer
these. If you can, jot them down. If you're sitting
somewhere, if you can't, just answer them in
your head. Do you get annoyed when people are
optimistic? when someone is nice to you do you
wonder what that person wants do you constantly
feel misunderstood when things are going well
are you waiting for the bottom to fall out do
you quickly notice people's flaws or faults do
you worry about getting taken advantage of are
you guarded when you meet someone new do you
wonder sometimes why people just can't get it
together are you sarcastic I asked these questions
to my team and they all started out. The reason
I actually wrote those questions was because
they all started out like, yeah, I struggle with
all these enemies. I know all these enemies that
you wrote about except for cynicism. I don't
think I'm very cynical. So I thought, I bet they
are. I know they are. So I wrote these questions
and then I made them answer them and they all
were like, oh my gosh, I had no idea it was so
cynical. So I don't know how you feel right now,
but I think a lot of us relate to those questions
and struggle with these things. Cynicism is an
especially powerful tool from the enemy because
when you and I are struck by it, we don't see
our need to be helped. We get arrogant and we
separate ourselves from getting help, from needing
people we think we know more than everybody else.
I want to talk about what cynicism is. Cynicism
is this idea that We're looking for the bad to
keep the bad from hurting us. It's protection.
It's making sure that we're not getting taken
advantage of, making sure that somebody's not
using us. And in a world where people can be
really hurtful, cynicism can sometimes be helpful.
So we start to prize it. We start to feel educated,
like we're not naive. I want to tell you a story
about my team. My team is so amazing. Love them
so much. And they're great friends, all of them.
And when I think about them, they're not... notably
cynical for crying out loud. They moved to Dallas,
a lot of them, to serve God and to be a part
of this ministry. They're so surrendered and
they're constantly obedient. But we were sitting
around dinner when I was working on this book
and this project. And one of the girls there
was like, if I just choose to see the good in
things and I just choose to think positively,
I'm going to get taken advantage of. And one
of the girls that was there, she doesn't work
for us any longer, but she is just delightful.
Literally, the girl, like, little sunshine on
a stick. Like she just is happy, smiley all the
time, positive about everything. Even her voice
is like sweet as syrup. Like she is just so sweet
and kind. And so she's sitting next to me and
I looked at Elizabeth and I said, Elizabeth,
you tell me what you think about that. Because
she is that. She models it. She walks around
with joy in her heart every minute of every day.
She sees the best in everybody. Some people would
think of it as naive. And she said, so what?
So what if I get taken advantage of? I'm happier.
I was like, that's so brilliant. Like we're choosing.
It's our mind, y 'all. We're not talking about
our circumstances. We're talking about. the thing
we live with day in and day out, day in and day
out. And if it's conditioned and constantly looking
for the negative, it will find the negative.
It will find the negative in our family members.
It will find the negative in our friendships.
It will find the negative in our circumstances,
in our jobs, in our callings. It will find the
negative in everything if we let it. And so this
idea of cynicism has actually, I feel like it's
this slow leak. Like right now, my tire, every
time I get in the car, it's going down and it's
taking like weeks. to get to where it's a dangerous
level, but like I've noticed there's a slow leak
and it's extra slow, but it keeps alerting me
like it's getting lower and lower and lower.
And that's exactly what cynicism is. It's a slow
leak of joy in our lives because if we fixate
on negative, then... we are not ever going to
be happy. And I know as Christians, we've got
a lot bigger goals than happiness, right? Like
that's not our ultimate goal. But at the end
of the day, what we think about and the joy that
inhabits our mind and our hearts is and should
be a goal of Christianity. Who wants to follow
after people that are following after a God that
doesn't issue joy? You know, I mean, I don't
want that. We have a God that issues ultimate
joy, like ultimate hope, ultimate peace, peace
that surpasses understanding, scripture tells
us. So we should be reflecting those things if
we actually believe this and if we're actually
following God. And yet what cynicism does is
it makes us question all of our authorities so
we never submit. It makes us question all of
our institutions so we never participate. It
makes us question all of our friendships so we
never connect. It makes us question our family
members so we never, ever feel safe. I mean,
it will erode our confidence and our joy in all
of the gifts that God's given us to help us follow
Him, to help us grow up in the faith, to help
us live out full and abundant and obedient lives.
So how do we change this? Well, one, I think
we've got to be careful what we're feeding our
souls. And for me, really candidly, I had to
get off Twitter. If you go there right now, you
will see one tweet that I've written like in
the last six months because... Even though I'm
sure that's a mechanism that could grow my platform,
it was not feeding my soul. And I just decided,
you know what? I'm not closing my account yet,
but I'm never going there. And I would say I
go there maybe every few months just to check
in, see what's happening with friends, because
some of my friends are only on Twitter. And then
I'll also just browse through messages and that
kind of thing. But I don't participate on Twitter.
And the reason why is because it always made
me cynical. Every time I got off Twitter, I doubted.
every single thing about God, everything about
church, everything about the hope for humanity.
It just felt like everything there is believing
the worst in everything. And I wanted to believe
the best. And I didn't know how to fight for
that when that was the constant input in my life.
So I just left. Now, that is not to say I do
not stay educated. Guys, I'm a political person.
I was a... poli -sci minor in college. Like I
care about politics. I just don't think they're
the ultimate hope. So I don't over -engage there,
but I care. So I stay up to date. And when something's
really interesting, I'll go read more about it.
If there's a war that's brewing that I want to
know more about, I'll go read more about it.
But I don't sit there and consume my news from
angry people on Twitter. You know, we moved to
Dallas and I decided I'm going to be really careful
about... who are my friends. I'm just going to
choose the people that are going to input into
my life, not the people I love, because we need
to be loving people that are not healthy and
that need us. But I'm talking about the people
that are going to be in my ear every day that
are really close to me. I'm going to make sure
that they are positive people. I know this sounds
so cheesy, but... I needed people that were life
-giving, people that saw the good in the world
and saw the good in me and saw the good in, and
not naively so, but I want to speak to the naivety
issue because I think sometimes we can just see
positive people and assume they're naive. When
I think of my friend Elizabeth, she has actually
been through a lot. When you hear her story,
you're like, gosh, you have been through a lot.
So she's not naive to suffering. She's not naive
to disappointment. She's not naive to people
hurting her. She just has chosen a better way.
And she's selfish about it. She's like, I mean,
it's just a better way to live. I don't enjoy
being negative about everyone all the time. I
don't wanna live that way. And I think that's
what we've gotta do is we need to get a little
bit selfish and zealous for ourselves and our
minds and saying, you know what? This is not
leading to life and peace for me. And I don't
know what your Twitter is or what your thing
is that just is not leading to life and peace,
but you need to notice it in yourself. Like,
gosh, this is causing a cynical spirit in me
towards people. And that could be gossipy friends.
That could be friends that are always complaining
about their husbands. That could be friends that
are always complaining about their job. It could
be coworkers. And I'm not saying you never spend
time with them, but you guard your mind and you
don't spend all your time with them. And when
you're spending time with them, you have a...
plan an attack. I do this with my kids when they
go through seasons where their friends are making
bad choices with their words and gossiping all
the time. I'm like, you don't need to cut off
your friends and not have them anymore necessarily
because that's certain years of our lives. Gossip
is just part of it. How do we turn the conversation?
How do we bring life and peace into a conversation?
And you have those little sound bites that turn
the conversation around. And so I think we've
just got to be light in dark places, but we also
need places that are full of light and that bring
energy and life and joy into us. You're listening
to Living on the Edge. We'll return you to Jenny
Allen's message in just a minute. But let me
quickly share with you, God has called us to
do incredible ministry work all around the world.
And when you partner with us financially, you're
part of what we do. So if you'd like to join
us, go to livingontheedge .org. And we appreciate
you giving whatever God leads you to give. Well,
with that, here's Jenny. So then the question
is, if I'm already cynical, how do I fight this?
What does it look like? And I'm gonna tell you,
this one took me on a journey. It didn't end
up in an obvious place. This one for me was when
I thought back to what has interrupted my cynicism,
I saw a theme and that theme was delight, that
I get less cynical when I see delight because
we don't see it coming. It is delightful. It
hits something in us that our, rational, reasonable
self didn't see coming. And that's what happened
to me. A song can do that to me. Beauty is God's
evidence of something far more wonderful that's
coming. It's this hope. It paints a picture of
a world that is beyond the one that we live in
now. a world that is coming. That's what beauty
does. It reminds us there's something coming
that's bigger and better and more beautiful than
what we live in right now. Evidence that there's
a creator who is loving and profoundly delightful.
And so when we see beauty, we find ourselves
delighted. We find ourselves enjoying God again.
We find ourselves, our hearts tender. That's
how I feel in worship so often, is that I'll
be worshiping and all of a sudden I'm in tears,
even though my heart has been hard for a week.
I'll all of a sudden be... crying before God
because worship has just pierced something in
me that isn't rational, but it causes me to delight
and enjoy God's delight over me. And so I want
to talk about this because I don't think we value
delight. I think we don't value a lot of these
things that God's given us as weapons. And we've
talked about in the past about God delighting
over us, but think of the ways God delights you.
Just look outside right now, out of your window,
whether it's raining or snowing or leaves are
falling or whatever it looks like right now,
or it's bright and sunny, whatever it looks like
outside, there's delight in God's creation. There's
delight in the way he built seasons, the way
he built trees, the way he built a leaf. I remember
looking at a leaf one time, and I actually led
a bunch of girls through a whole Bible study
one time, just looking at leaves and realizing
like, gosh, he made every leaf on earth differently.
should blow our minds. Like there is delight
and power of God expressed to us daily through
creation. There is delight over, have you ever
seen a baby born? I mean, when you see a life
brought into the world, there's something just
so delightful. My little niece right now is probably
the cutest human I have ever met. Like literally,
I have the cutest human as a niece that I have.
I know my own children are like, mom, what about
us? Well, I'm sorry. She is the cutest baby I've
ever met in my whole life. And when I'm with
her, it's like I'm mesmerized. I can't even stand
it. I study every finger, every toe. I look at
fingers and toes all the time, never think anything
about it. But what about a baby expresses something
about God and His delight over us? And I think
these are the things that God's given us to remind
us like, hey, I'm safe. I'm trustworthy. I'm
likable. And my world is good. And yes, there
is sin in institutions sometimes. And yes, there
is sin in people. And what cynicism says is,
so never trust people. So never trust the church.
So never trust God. And what delight says is,
there is good too. And there is trustworthy too.
And there is redemption too. And what delight
says is, there's joy. And when we think about
God, we can get in these places where, and my
team and I were doing a little Devo on this recently,
and they all shared this idea that there's this
guilt they feel when things go well for them.
Like there's something about to happen that's
bad. Something's going to come that's bad. Again,
there's no promise that it won't, but why is
that our immediate thing when something good
happens to us? Why is that our immediate thing
when there's something joyful to celebrate rather
than sitting in the joy, delighting in the gift?
enjoying what God has given us as a good thing
because he is good, because he gives good things,
scripture says, Romans 8, 28. And we know that
for those who love God, all things work together
for good for those who are called according to
his purpose. This is true. God is doing that.
And yes, some days and some people and some situations
will disappoint us. But I would rather live full
of joy, believing the good and get burned every
once in a while than constantly waiting to get
burned and constantly seeing the negative. That
is a sad way to live. And I'm not going to do
it. I'm going to keep believing good for our
country. I'm going to keep believing good for
my church. I'm going to keep believing good for
my family. I'm going to keep believing good for
this generation. I'm going to believe good because
I believe we rise to what we believe. I believe
we rise to that. I see this in my kids all the
time. When I watch Cooper, when I speak life
over my son, he will rise to that. This was yesterday
morning. I'm sending him to school and I'm saying,
buddy, you're a leader. You are a leader. Act
like one today. And he came in and afterwards,
after school, he's like, mom, it was a great
day. It was a great day. He rose to that compliment.
He rose to what I saw him as. And we've got to
realize that how we think influences what we
say and what we believe about ourselves and what
we believe about the people around us. And if
we can start to speak life over them, it's called
being life -giving. The opposite of cynical,
it's life -giving. It's life -speaking. It's
life -thinking. It's a different way to live
and the world is aching. for it. When you live
this way, yes, some people will think you're
naive, but most people will just want to go to
coffee because they need people that can speak
truth and not just speak it, but actually believe
it for them. This is Living on the Edge with
Chip Ingram, and we're in the middle of our guest
teacher Jenny Allen series, Get Out of Your Head.
Chip will join us in studio in just a minute
to share his application for today's message,
The Antidote for Cynicism. Let me ask you, what
drives your thought life? What influences the
way you think? Is it anxiety, loneliness, insecurity?
Whatever it is, do you feel trapped by it? Like
no matter how hard you try, your mind drifts
back to these harmful patterns. In this series,
author and speaker Jenny Allen calls out seven
toxic thoughts that derail our connection to
God. Discover the powerful antidotes God's given
us to break free from these dangerous mindsets.
Join Jenny to learn what you can do to fight
and win the war for your mind. And if you're
wanting to do a deeper study on this topic, let
me encourage you to get Jenny's book, Get Out
of Your Head. For complete details, go to livingontheedge
.org or call us at 888 -333 -6003. That's 888
-333 -6003 or livingontheedge .org. App listeners
tap special offers. Our Bible teacher, Chip Ingram,
is with me in studio now. And Chip, Jenny wrapped
up her message on the harmfulness of cynicism
with a challenge to us to be life -giving. And
that's really what we're all about here at Living
on the Edge, isn't it? Helping Christians really
live like Christians. Do you have a story that
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At some point you wonder, you know, is Living
on the Edge really making a difference? And I
got a note in the mail that I just have to share.
Listen to this. Dear Chip, we don't have enough
words to show our gratitude. At one point, my
husband and I both thought things were so bad.
They'd never get better. But thankfully, I heard
one of your sermons that spoke to our situation.
So I started listening on a regular basis. Now
my husband listens too. Through God's transformation
in our lives, we've started seeing restoration
in our family. Even though we're still a work
in progress, we can see God's hand making direct
changes in our lives. Recently, we decided to
make a monthly donation to help keep your broadcast
going. We realized that if your ministry helped
us this much, then it can help others too. Thank
you for all that you're doing to furthering God's
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you know, we're all so personally focused and
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Great encouragement, Chip. So if you'd like to
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at livingontheedge .org or by calling 888 -333
-6003. That's 888 -333 -6003 or visit livingontheedge
.org. App listeners tap donate. Thanks for your
support. Well, before we go, Chip, let's get
to that application you promised. Thanks, Dave.
Out of everything that Jenny's been teaching
so far, I'd have to say that fighting cynicism
has been a battle that I've just had to, I mean,
fight over and over and over and over again.
You know, when your desire is to see things healed,
your desire is to see new life, you want restoration,
you just are longing and longing for things to
get better. And it just seems on some days that
nothing gets better. At least that's the way
you feel. You get this lens and you'll meet someone
young and zealous with all these great ideas.
And here's how you know you're cynical. You just
sort of nod your head and think, yeah, I remember
when I used to believe that stuff and say that
stuff. And I've really tried to battle not becoming
cynical because over the years, I've had a lot
of great opportunities given by God to sit in
a back room with a bunch of speakers, Christian
leaders. And it's interesting, I'll hear people
get up in front of some very large audiences,
but then have some private conversations where,
you know, they down deep don't believe that there
can be any real change, that they're very, very
discouraged. And don't get me wrong, the great
majority of Christian leaders that I've had the
privilege of hanging out with, are very godly
men and women. But what I saw was as people got
older, especially, they didn't just lose their
idealism. They started to lose the belief. And
see, I think there's a false paradigm that we
get. It's the all or nothing paradigm. And when
we see evil and tragedy and difficulty and division
like we're seeing, and when there's pandemics
and wars and all those things, especially if
you allow your mind to be filled with multiple
news broadcasts or be around really negative
people, all those things are toxic over time
to breed cynicism. And I would just remind you
that life is a patchwork affair. And the patchwork
affair in a fallen world is there is magnificent
beauty. The beauty of a child being born, the
beauty of a sunset, the beauty of that amazing
sense and feeling of being in love, the beauty
of watching someone recover from a tragic accident,
the beauty of building something together, the
beauty of watching orphans and widows being taken
care of, the beauty of just... all around us,
but that beauty is always mixed in with sadness
and sorrow, betrayals and disappointments. And
what I love about the scriptures and what Jenny's
trying to help us see is we can't just look through
the filter of the difficult, the painful. I love
her reminder that heaven, that there's an eternal
perspective. There is a place, there is a future
when everything is going to be right. but it's
not here. And when you expect heaven -like circumstances
in a fallen world, you set yourself up to be
a cynic. And you know, when you're a cynic, you
don't believe, you don't trust, and over time
you get negative. And so let me just encourage
you, look for the beauty. Thank God for all the
good. And in the difficult, in the darkness,
in the challenges, in the corruption, pray. And
just say, Lord, I know it won't always be like
this, but let me be a light. Let me refuse to
stop believing and becoming negative and cynical.
Let me, in my little world, be positive, be biblical,
be loving, and make a difference where I live.
Thanks, Chip. And as we close, I want you to
know that as a staff, we ask the Lord to help
you take whatever your next faith step is. Now,
if there's a way we can help, we'd love to do
that. Give us a call at 888 -333 -6003 or connect
with us at livingontheedge .org. And while you're
there, take a moment to look through our resources
on various topics, many of them absolutely free.
Well, coming up on the next edition of Living
on the Edge, we'll continue our guest teacher
Jenny Allen series, Get Out of Your Head. So
we hope you'll join us then. But until then,
I'm Dave Drewy. Thanks for listening.