Cynicism

Daily Byte

We are continuing with our week’s theme of ‘Killing the Christmas Spirit,” and today we will be looking at the topic of cynicism.

Cynicism is similar to pessimism in that it is a negative attitude towards life that leads to a loss of hope. The difference is that cynicism is a somewhat angrier attitude than pessimism. Cynicism not only believes things are bad and will probably get worse, but also gets exasperated at those who believe positive change can happen. James Cozzens humorously defines a cynic as “someone who found out when they were ten that there wasn’t any Santa Claus and is still upset.”

Cynicism is knocking things before they have even been tried. Cynicism is sitting back and declaring that you are sick and tired of it all anyway. Cynicism loudly asserts that it is not interested in trying to make a difference because someone once tried that back in ’74 and it didn’t work then and certainly won’t now!

The daily South African stories of corruption and crime can so easily lead to cynicism if we are not careful. Cynicism can kill the Christmas spirit by sucking everything positive out of us and leaving us feeling angry and irritable. It will also leave those around us feeling hurt, downcast and wishing that they had different friends! In today’s focus reading, the writer of Ephesians encourages us not to live in any “futility of thinking” or “darkened understandings” but instead “to be made new in the attitude of our minds” and to put on a “new self created to be like God.”

One of the best ways we can counter cynicism is by learning to be thankful. By looking around us every day and giving thanks to God for all the good things we can see. I know it sounds nerdy but it really, really works. One of the most important prayers we can learn to pray is three simple words: “Thank you Lord”. Doing this opens our eyes to a whole new way of thinking and being.

In these weeks before Christmas, take time to dedicate yourself to doing exactly that. Take time out every day and give thanks to God for all the good things you can see.

Pray As You Go

"The cynic is one who never sees a good quality in a person, and never fails to see a bad one." — Henry Ward Beecher.

Help us O’ God to carefully check our hearts today. Do we sometimes tend to overanalyze other people’s motives and question their sincerity? Do we inwardly or outwardly knock other’s efforts to make a difference? Forgive us O’ Lord for the times we have chosen to be cynical. Help us to trust your message of hope and to open our eyes to the difference your love makes throughout the world. Help us to trust others more so that we might be free of the suspicions and doubts that lead to a cynical spirit. Help us to be made new in the attitude of our minds. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.

Focus Verse

Ephesians 4: 17-24 (NIV)

So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.
You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.