When Cynicism Hits Close to Home

Scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.

2 Peter 3:3

Over the last century, we have seen evolutionism, which said “There is no Creator!” We are seeing the decline of postmodernism, which said “There is no Truth!” And now we’re seeing the rise of a new atheism, which says “There is no God!”

Perhaps you work with people who are cynical about your faith. Their language distresses you. Sometimes they despise the things of God that are precious to you. How are you going to handle that? It’s easy to get frustrated when people are cynical or sceptical toward God, but we need to deal with it because a Christianity that’s angry with the world never gets us anywhere (Jas. 1:20).

The pressures of living with unbelief come much closer to home for many of us. What do you do when your son or daughter turns away from following Christ? They don’t believe. They show no interest in spiritual things. Eyes roll when you talk about going to church.

What happens inside of you is very predictable. You feel helpless, What can I do? What can the church do? And when you feel helpless, frustration grows and with it comes anger. And anger won’t do much to bring him or her closer to the Lord!

One of the hardest things in the world is to see people you love wasting their lives, following their own desires. The most natural thing in the world is for you to feel defeated, perplexed, frustrated, embattled, helpless, angry, tense, afraid, and ashamed.

How can you develop more patience with sceptical people, so that what comes out of you reflects the Spirit of Jesus rather than the spirit of the Pharisees?