Get Out of Your Head - The Antidote for Cynicism

Do you think of yourself as a skeptical person, waiting for the other shoe to drop. You see, the world empty glass instead of having full mentality is what some people call cynicism, and today we can learn how pervasive it is how it steals our joy and how we can learn to make it go. Thanks for listening. this Edition of Living on the Edge with Living on the Edges of international discipleship featuring the daily Bible teaching just a minute will continue it out of your head by our guest speaker JBL society continues to drift real-life ugly grill divorce, but generally share a different viewpoint on what were experiencing, we believe that through her insight, the wisdom of our teaching team we can better encourage and support Christians to really live by Christians for those who don't know Jenny is a best-selling author, Bible teacher, and the founder of the series.

Jimmy's identifying seven toxic thoughts and our minds seven remedies that can stop them in their tracks. So with all that said storage and hopefully talk antidote for cynicism. We are diving into the different enemy attack your mind and today were to talk about when I see everywhere and actually valued by most of us it's not something we typically fight because I think it's something that we respect and people at 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 and yourselves. 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, ask a few questions that would kinda be good self diagnostic tool to see if you are cynical, so do you get annoyed when people are optimistic someone to answer these. If you can jot them down if you're sitting somewhere. If you can't just answering your head did get annoyed when people are optimistic when someone is nice to you.

Do you wonder what that person wants to constantly feel misunderstood when things are going well. Are you waiting for the bottom to file D quickly notice people's flaws or faults.

Do you worry about getting taken advantage of. Are you guarded when you meet someone new D wonder sometimes why people just can't get together. Are you sarcastic these questions to my team and they all started out the reason I actually wrote those questions was because they all started out like I struggled all these enemies I know all these enemies that you wrote about except for Stennis and 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 that made him answer them and they all were like oh my gosh I had no idea it was so cynical I don't know how you feel right now by 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 meeting people we think we know more than everybody else. I want to talk about what cynicism is. Cynicism is this idea that were looking for the bad to keep the bad from hurting us. It's protection it's making sure that were not getting taken advantage of making sure that somebody's not using us in a world where people can be really hurtful. Cynicism can sometimes be helpful so we start to prize that we start to feel educated like were not naïve to tell you story about my team. My team is so amazing love them so much and a great friends all of them and when I think about them. They're not notably cynical for crying out loud date they moved to Dallas.

A lot of them to serve God and to be a part of his ministry day there so surrendered and they're constantly obedient, but we are sitting on dinner.

When I was working on this book.

In this project and one of the girls there was like if I just choose to see the good in things. I just choose to think positively, I get taken and one of the girl 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.

She just is happy :-) all the time positive about everything, even her voice is like sweet syrup, which he is just so sweet and kind and as if she's sitting next to me. I looked at Elizabeth in a cell is you tell me what you think about that history model that she walks around with joy in her heart. Every minute of every day she sees the best and everybody.

Some people would think of it as naïve and she said so what.

So if I get taken into unhappy like that. Like at work using it to remind y'all when not talking about her circumstances were talking about the thing we live with day in and day out day in day out if it's condition and constantly looking for the negative.

It will find the negative. It will find the negative in our family members and will find the negative and our friendships will find the negative in our circumstances and our jobs and our callings. It will find the negative everything if we let it. And so this idea cynicism has actually I feel like it's the slow leak like right now my tiger every time I get in the car. It's going down and it's taking like weeks to get to where the dangerous level but like I've noticed there's a slow week 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 this a slow leak of joy in our lives because if we fixate on negative, then we are not ever going to be happy. You know, I know as Christians we got a lot bigger goals and happiness right like that's not our ultimate goal, but at the end of the day what we think about and 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 God 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 said we should be reflecting those things if we actually believe this, and if were actually following God and yet what cynicism does is it makes us question all of our authorities so we never submit an nexus question all of our institutions so we never participate in makes us question all of our friendships so we never connect makes us question our family members. So we never ever feel safe. I mean, it will erode our confidence and our joy, and all of the guests a God 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 one. I think we've got to be careful what were feeding our souls and for me really. Candidly, I had to get off twitter I have you go there right now you will see one suite that I've written.

Like in the last six months because even though I'm sure that the mechanism that can grow my platform.

It was not being my soul and I just decided you know why 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 and see what's happening with friends to some of my friends are only on Twitter and then also just browse through you messages and that I think that 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 you hope for humanity.

It just felt like everything there is.

Believing the worst and everything and I wanted to believe the best I didn't know how to fight for that. When that was the constant input of my life so I just left.

Now that is not to say I do not see educated guys. I'm political person I was up poly sign minor in college like I care about politics. Don't think of the ultimate hope so. I don't over engage there but I can't.

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 uncle read more about it, but I don't sit there and consume my news from angry people on twitter no we moved to Dallas and I decided him to be really careful about who are my friends. I'm just going to choose the people that are getting input into my life, not the people I love because we need to be loving people that are not healthy and that need us. Yeah, but I'm talking about the people that are coming in my ear every day that are really close to me to make sure that they are positive people. I know this sounds so cheesy, but I need people that were life-giving people that saw the good in the world and saw the good in me and saw the good and not naïvely so, but I want to speak to that I have the issue because I think sometimes we can just see positive people and assume there naïve when I think of my friend Elizabeth. She's actually been through a lot when you hear her story you're like – you have been through a lot so she's not naïve to suffering.

She's not naïve to disappointment. She's not naïve to people hurting her. She just has chosen a better way and she know she's selfish about it. She's like I mean is just a better way to live. I don't enjoy being negative about everyone all the time. I don't want to live that way and I think that's what we 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 it what your twitter is or what you're saying is that that just is not leading the life and peace that you need and noticing yourself like – this is causing a cynical spirit in me towards people and I can be gossipy friends that could be friends are always complaining about their husbands that could be friends are always complaining about their job. The coworkers and 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 setting time with them. You have a plan of attack.

I do this with my kids when they go through seasons where their friends are making bad choices with their words and like Gosnell, you don't need to cut off your friends and not have them anymore necessarily because that's in a certain years of our lives. Gossip is just part of it, but how do we turn the conversation. How do we bring life and peace into a conversation and you you have those little soundbites that turn the conversation around and so I think we've just got to be light and dark places but we also need places that are full of light and that bring energy and life and joy and test so then the question is if I'm already cynical. How do I fight this. What is it look like tell you this took me on a journey, but it didn't end up in an obvious place this one for me was when I thought back to what his interest in my cynicism I saw a scene 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 hit something in us that that are rational, reasonable cells didn't see coming, and that's what happened to me a song can do that to me. Beauty is God.

Evidence of something far more wonderful that's coming up this hope it 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 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 professionally delightful. And so when we see beauty. We find ourselves delighted we find ourselves enjoying God. Again we find ourselves a hearts tender the tie, feel and worship so often is that I'll be worshiping and all of a sudden I'm in tears. Even though my heart was has been hard for a week all all of a sudden be crying before God, because worship is just pierced something in me that that isn't rational, but it causes me to delight and enjoy God's ally over me and so I want to talk about this because I don't think we value delight think we don't value. A lot of these things that God given us his weapons in and we talked about the past about God delight over us.

But think of the ways God delights you, but 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 it's bright and sunny, whatever it looks like outside. There is delight in God's creation. There is delight in the way he built seasons away. He built you know trees the way he built the leaf. I remember looking a leaf on time and had actually let let of integrals through the whole Bible study one time just looking at leaves and realizing like Koski. He made every leaf on earth differently like that should blow our minds like there is delight and power of God expressed to us daily through creation. There is delight over fever. 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 had the cutest human as a niece that I have and I know my own children like mom will I'm sorry she's the cutest baby that in my whole life and I live it when I'm with her. I'm I like a summarize. I can even stand I'd like study every finger every time I look at things and never think anything about it. But what about a baby like expresses something about God and his delight over and I think these are the things that God's given us to remind us I can save.

I'm trustworthy. I'm likable and my world is good and yes there is sin an institution sometimes. And yes, their sin and 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 to and there is trustworthy to and there is redemption to and what delight says is there's joy. And when we think about God that we can get in these places where in my team and I were doing a little deeper on this recently and they all shared this idea that that there's this guilt they feel when things go well for them like there's something about to happen. If that something's going to come back again.

There's no promise that it won't. Why is that our immediate thing and something that 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 it gives good thing Scripture says, Romans 828 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. And yes, some days and some people in 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 seen the negative that is a sad way to live and I'm not gonna do it on the keep believing good for our country and the key, believing good for my church and to keep believing good for my family on the keep believing good for this generation. I'm gonna believe good because I believe we rise to what we believe. I believe we rise that I see this in my kids all the time when I watch Cooper when I speak life over my son.

He will rise that it is as yesterday morning and sending them to school and saying that you are a leader you are a leader act like one. Today he came in afterwards after school. His mother is a quaint day is a great day he rose to that complement. He rose to what I saw him as an 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 is life-giving. It's life speaking.

It's like thinking it's a different way to live, and the world aching for it when you live this way.

Yes, some people think you're 90. But most people just want to go to coffee because they need people that can speak truth and not just speak it, but actually Jenny you know this program for services which is from her series get out of your head will join us in just a literature sure his application for this message. Let me ask you a question what drives your thought life. Is it anxiety, loneliness, feeling like the world's out to get you. Perhaps you're really pessimistic or obsessed with being recognized when the series Jenny identifies seven common thoughts that are actually toxic to our lives and can be real or connection with God. Don't live so we can break free from these dangerous mindsets by wielding the power God's already given us. If you wanted to learn more about this topic.

Let me encourage you to get Jimmy's book get out of your head. For complete details, go to LivingontheEdge.org or call us a triple late. 333-6003 that's AAA 333-6003, or LivingontheEdge.org listeners top special offers or Bible teacher Chip Ingram was with me in studio, no chip, Jimmy wrapped up her message on the harmfulness of cynicism.

The call to be life-giving and that's really what were all about.

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We 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, but 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 the nothing gets better. At least that's the way you feel when you get this lens and you meet someone young and in zealous with all these great ideas and here's how you know you're cynical you just sort of nod your head. Didn't think the member what I used to believe that stuff and say that stuff and I've really tried to battle not becoming cynical because over the years have heard a lot of great opportunities given by God to sit in the back room with a bunch of speakers, Christian leaders, and it's interesting all here. People get up in front of some very large audiences that have some private conversations where you know the down deep don't believe that there can be any real change that they're very, very discouraged and don't get me wrong, I the great majority of Christian leaders that I've had the privilege of hanging out with her very godly men and women. But what I saw was as people got older, especially the didn't just lose their idealism. They started to lose the belief and say I think there's a there's a false paradigm that we get, it's the all or nothing paradigm and when we see evil in tragedy and difficulty in division like were seeing them when there's pandemics and wars and all those things, especially if you allow your mind to be filled with multiple news broadcaster 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 is a patchwork affair in the patchwork of figure in a fallen world is there is magnificent beauty. The beauty of a child being born. The beauty of the 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 a 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. 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 love her reminder that heaven 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 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.

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