A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting WorldBy Paul E. MillerLearning to Trust Again: Part II: Chapters 9-11“Understanding Cynicism” - Chapter 9Understanding Cynicism
Cynicism is the opposite of a childlike spirit.
Cynicism is the dominant spirit of our age.
Cynicism leads us to doubt the effectiveness or value of prayer.
Weariness is on the edge of turning into cynicism.
If Satan cannot sto...
A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World
By Paul E. Miller
Learning to Trust Again: Part II: Chapters 9-11
“Understanding Cynicism” - Chapter 9
Understanding Cynicism
- Cynicism is the opposite of a childlike spirit.
- Cynicism is the dominant spirit of our age.
- Cynicism leads us to doubt the effectiveness or value of prayer.
- Weariness is on the edge of turning into cynicism.
- If Satan cannot stop you from praying, he will rob you of its fruit.
The Feel of Cynicism
- Satan is the author of cynicism; he led Adam/Eve to look at God through a cynical perspective.
- Cynicism fosters doubt, skepticism, and causes us to look at everything and everyone with a critical eye.
- Cynicism is deceptive in that it parades itself as “truth” – what is “really going on behind the scenes.”
- Cynicism robs us of trust, love, passion, and enjoyment in the things of everyday life.
- Cynicism dulls and deadens, causing us to feel nothing, to believe in nothing.
- To be cynical is to be distant; it leads to a creeping bitterness that can deaden and even destroy the spirit.
- A praying life is the opposite of a cynical life.
- Prayer engages evil, doesn’t take no for an answer, is persistent before the face of God, hoping, dreaming, and asking.
- Cynicism merely critiques everything. It is passive, cocooning itself from the passions of the great cosmic battle we are engaged in.
- If you try to add an overlay of prayer to a cynical or even a weary heart, it feels phony.
- For the cynic, life is already phony; nothing can be trusted, hoped in, or provide meaning and purpose.
A Journey into Cynicism
- Cynicism begins with the wrong kind of faith, a naïve optimism or foolish confidence.
- On the surface, naïve optimism and faith can look the same, but the foundations are vastly different.
- Genuine faith comes from knowing my heavenly Father loves, enjoys, and cares for me.
- Naïve optimism is groundless, blind trust.
- Genuine faith fuels bold action and diligent effort.
- Our culture gradually shifted from faith in God to faith in humanity.
- So, faith became simply faith in faith itself, rather than faith in God.
- “Just believe” or “have faith” became the mantra, but without any reference to God – the object of faith.
- Optimism rooted in the goodness or capability of people collapses against the dark side of life.
- Real life doesn’t lend itself to groundless optimism.
- Shattered optimism leads to weariness and then to cynicism.
- The movement from naïve optimism to cynicism is the new American journey.
- In naïve optimism, we don’t need to pray because everything is under control, everything is possible.
- In cynicism, we can’t pray because everything is out of control, little is possible.
- Cynicism’s ironic stance is a weak attempt to maintain a lighthearted equilibrium in a world gone mad.
- At some point, each of us faces the valley of the shadow of death.
- We can’t ignore it. We can’t remain neutral with evil.
- We either give up and distance ourselves, or we learn to walk with the Shepherd. There is no middle ground.
- Without the Good Shepherd, we are alone in a meaningless story.
The Age of Cynicism
- Our personal struggles with cynicism and defeated weariness are reinforced by an increasing tendency toward perfectionism.
- Believing you have to have the perfect relationship, the perfect children, the perfect body set you up for a critical spirit.
- In the absence of perfection, we resort to spin—trying to make ourselves look good.
- We end up with a public life and a private life. We cease to be real.
- Media looks for the wrong in everything.
- Psychology’s hunt for hidden motives adds a new layer to our ability to judge and be cynical about what others are doing.
- Cynicism is the air we breathe; our only hope is to give Jesus our weary and heavy-laden hearts and follow him out of cynicism.
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