We are all tempted from time to time to put our two cents in. We see a situation unfolding and we are instantly triggered by it. This comes from somewhere. Usually, those two cents were deposited sometime in the past through a painful event that we have experienced. We tend to pass along the pain we have received when we have the chance.
Sometimes that pain can be physical. Other times it can be psychological or even spiritual. Wherever you received the wound, is usually your starting point for cynicism.
My favorite cynic is Charlie Brown. You can probably imagine him saying out loud, “Good Grief.” This is the year that he will kick the football for sure.
But, what about you? What football has been pulled away from you lately? The one you were sure that you were going to kick. The one you prepared for. The one that you promised yourself, this time, I will do it.
Perhaps you have had a series of footballs pulled away from you. So, this is like the 3rd or 4th time and it’s starting to get old.
Here is a statement that I read not long ago…
It feels like God is letting me down. But the reality is, I have put circumstances, expectations, and hope in something that I wanted God to do for me, in me, or through me. All the while, God may have never even thought of that for me.
This statement seems pretty familiar.
Perhaps cynicism is naturally manufactured by our inability to look at things through God’s eyes instead of our own. Bottom Line – God is sovereign and we are not. The sooner that we come to peace with this, there is potentially less chance that we slide into cynicism.
God didn’t pull the football away from us before we were about to kick it. We put the football down and expected Him to play that game, and He instead says, let’s go on a walk.
This week you will have the opportunity to be lead in worship by some of our students. Take it all in. If you find yourself having an internal conversation about anything other than how wonderful our God is, pump the brakes, look to the cross and remember that God is as wonderful as we can imagine, and infinitely more.
Most of the time when we slide into cynicism it’s because of something we have done and are disappointed with. Sometimes we do not know where it comes from at first, but when we look harder, we find it’s usually from some pain we have received in the past.
There is only one way to experience good grief. It is to process it with Jesus. May you turn away from whatever is holding you back and move toward the Lord Jesus. He is calling out of darkness into marvelous light.
Keep all of this in mind as we will look at the callings of Philip and Nathanael.
Read John 1:35-51.
- What is the key difference between the two men when Jesus called them?
- Which of the two would best describe the kind of way you would respond?
- What did it take for Nathanael to change his tune?
- Pray that the Lord Jesus would call you unto himself.
- Remind you of that of which you have been called.
- Walk with him this week or go kick some field goals.
By Dan Bender