From The Pastor’s Pen – By Brian Horrobin
Oscar Wilde, the famed Irish poet and playwright, once said, “A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.”
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a cynic as “a faultfinding critic; one who believes that human conduct is motivated wholly by self-interest.”
You’ve met these people.
As others go to work trying to make a difference in the lives of others, these armchair quarterbacks dissect and pick apart their every attempt smothering those efforts with a heavy, wet blanket of negativity.
Of course, they don’t have any better ideas of their own.
No, their gift to humanity is simply to point out where others are wrong and why their motive is entirely selfish.
Don’t be a cynic.
The world has enough of these already.
We need more encouragers, people alike Barnabas from the New Testament.
More than 60% of the New Testament was written by the apostle Paul, but in the beginning nobody trusted this guy, due to his severe and dangerous background.
Here’s what it says in Acts 9:26-27: “When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.”
History sure would be different if Barnabas hadn’t come along.
Make a choice today.
You can either poison forward progress with cynicism or build others up with your encouragement.
Maybe someone needs you this week!
