How much effort does it take to be cynical? Hardly any. How much effort does it take to trust? A lot. Cynicism is easy and destructive. Trust is difficult and constructive.
If we wait for all the questions to be answered before we make any steps forward, we don’t go anywhere.
Have you ever thought about this: How much effort does it take not to trust someone? It takes no effort whatsoever. It’s so easy not to trust. Cynicism is the easiest way out all the time. Doubting, questioning, how do you know, prove it to me, that’s always the easy way out. It’s easy and it’s usually destructive. In fact, the very people who are cynical and who always doubt are the very same as everyone who are seeking people who will trust them, who will say, you have the ability, you can, I trust. Because trust is actually what builds; cynicism is what destroys.
There is a Jewish saying that one cynical statement can destroy a thousand productive statements. One little word of cynicism can destroy an hour of productive speaking that someone just gave. By that slight joke, oh, you think he really means it? Oh, he’s such a hypocrite, whatever other comments we like to make. And that is simply because cynicism is inherently destructive. It’s a cheap shot and it’s actually ‑‑ some people, they flaunt their cynicism with so much pride. Their ability to take someone and doubt and ask them a thousand questions just to show that you cannot prove 100 percent that what you are claiming or what you are saying will work, or whatever it may be, is definitely going to work.
And, actually, that’s the ‑‑ cynicism is a tremendous sign of weakness. It’s the inability to stand up without the 100 percent proof that our minds always seek.
And there’s another point to not trusting and being cynical and that is that it is also defensive. The reason why we are cynical is that we don’t ‑‑ or that we don’t trust is because we don’t want to be duped, we don’t want to be fooled. We are looking out for ourself and so we don’t want to in any way get caught. So we will actually lose 99 opportunities because of the 100th time that we will walk out being fooled.
So what if we’re fooled? Imagine if someone is fooled 50 percent of the time but they actually discover the other 50 percent of the time versus the other person who never discovers 50 percent of the timed because they’re too scared to ever trust. You can’t make progress that way.
Trust, on the other hand, the opposite of being cynical and being the doubter, requires effort. It’s not easy because nothing valuable is easy. It goes against our instincts, it goes against our fear that things may not work out, that maybe this isn’t the right way and maybe this isn’t the right thing. Or, you know, the questions our mind asks of how do we know.
And sometimes people who have accomplished tremendous things don’t wait for the answer to all of those questions, they follow their gut instinct where their instinct tells them that this is something they should be doing even though they don’t have all the answers yet.
And, yes, sometimes it fails. Of course, sometimes it fails, which only sharpens the person’s instincts the next time because they now have learned how to hone in their instincts more accurately. But if we wait for all the questions to be answered before we make any steps forward, we don’t go anywhere.
Trust brings out wonders from other people as well when we trust them, which is why one of the greatest gifts we can give another person is trusting them and why every one of us seeks out someone who will trust us. And we resent people who always doubt us and question us. How many people are walking the face of the Earth today who are complaining that in their upbringing they did not have anyone that had faith in them? And to some extent, they are right, that in not having anyone who has faith in you when you’re growing up, it makes it that much more difficult because we have to find that faith in ourselves, that trust. Trust seeks out the best of the other person. So when we are truly looking out for another and not for ourselves, we don’t protect ourselves by being cynical but we trust the other by bringing out the best from within them. And there’s no question, of course, that someone who fails our trust repeatedly shouldn’t be trusted. But we should learn that after they fail our trust repeatedly, of course not with high stakes. We have to be protective of ourselves being destroyed. But it is worth the risk of a little bit of ourselves to demonstrate trust in another because of what that can ultimately do for the other person. And that’s why trusting people are the heroes of our society. When we are the ones who have the courage not to be cynical but to be trusting, we actually bring out the best of others around us, the best of the universe.
And there’s no question that this is so true in our relationship with God. Our relationship with God is transformed when we learn to slowly trust God more and more. And it makings us so much more powerful people and we can take on and carry so much more in our lives when we have that trust. And that’s why people who are trusting are heroes.
So I leave you with this question, who is the one person in your life who most needs you to trust them and what can you do to demonstrate more trust in them? What is one area in your life where you need to learn to let go a little more and trust God but you’re just not doing it? And what’s the one thing you need to do to get yourself to start trusting God a little more?