I had the honor to teach again this past weekend, and someone asked me a compelling question afterward. You can hear the original message here to get the context of the question.

The question asked was, "What if I have cynicism that is legitimate?" In other words, what if you have doubts about the motives of a person or an organization, and then it turns out that person or organization legitimately lacks integrity? I believe the inferred question was, "Is cynicism that is valid wrong (in a biblical sense)?"

I love honest questions, so I took some time to dive into this question and here's my response.

What does it mean to be cynical? To be a cynic is to have a general attitude that distrusts or disparages the motives of others. In other words, cynicism always doubts and is always distrustful, whether or not the target of the distrust deserves such treatment. Cynicism assumes the worst about the motives of other individuals or organizations without just cause. This is not a character trait that is in line with the nature of God.

From a biblical perspective, discernment is the trait that God gives his followers to fulfill this function.  If the Holy Spirit has led you to have a concern about a person or organization, then we call this discernment. This is an important distinction. Discernment relies on the guidance of the Holy Spirit to show us where legitimate concern is warranted. Then we can investigate further to determine if the concern we have is valid.

If you find yourself doubting and distrusting others on a regular basis, this can be a sign of spiritual unrest. God would have us dependent on him to know how to respond to the things in our lives, and so a frequent spirit of distrust is almost certainly not of God. The core matter in question is faith in God to guide and direct us.

Cynicism is by its very nature irrational. Even if you have encountered two or three charlatans behind the pulpits of the churches in the U.S., this cannot legitimately be stretched to say that all pastors are charlatans. Even if you have encountered four or five overseas ministries that manage their funds poorly and have toxic leadership models, again, it doesn't make any sense to say that all overseas ministries lack integrity. But this is how cynicism operates.

Ultimately, cynicism affects our hearts by putting virtual limits on what we believe God can do in this world. We say, "there are no good churches in America", and we have now told God in our hearts that we no longer believe he can raise up a community of believers that works to reflect who he is. We say, "there are no honest politicians", and we have now placed an artificial limit on how we think God can work. Inside us, our faith in God's power to act has been minimized. Cynicism is ultimately an expression of a lack of faith.

So, the answer to the question, "What if I have cynicism that is legitimate?" is that cynicism is never legitimate. If you are always distrustful of those around you, then you are likely to be correct about them once in a while. But that does not validate a faithless attitude of distrust. Rely on God for discernment of others' motives and then act in accordance to what he reveals.

There you have it.

And there it is.

David Andersen
Vineyard Church of Overland Park