“Pay strict attention to everything I have said to you. You must not invoke the names of other gods; they must not be heard on your lips.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

There are few things that give rise to cynicism quite so effectively as religion. Not often religion that is true and genuine, but religion that is pursued for the sake of religion. When people who don’t really believe in a particular deity nonetheless speak and act like they do for the sake of image or power or something else along those lines, not only do they grow cynical about the whole thing, but so do the people who see their show. This is one possible reason behind this next command God gives the people of Israel. Let’s explore this a bit further, and talk about why it still matters today.

Let’s start here by defining terms. If you google the word, you’ll come up with several versions of cynicism being the belief that other people are only motivated by self-interest. It is a basic skepticism about the motivations of the people around you. And in my entirely unqualified opinion, that definition is…okay. I think that if we are going to define a cynical person, though, we have to layer in some of the implications of their outlook as well as get more at the root of just exactly how cynicism manifests.

The cynical person assumes the worst about not only the people around him, but of the situations he is facing as well. He assumes the worst and then goes on to behave as if the worst is going to happen. There’s more here, though, than just this. A cynical person assumes the worst like this because he’s identified a problem with the world or with the culture in which he lives, but he isn’t willing to meaningfully confront it or make any intentional attempts to deal with or otherwise try to correct the problem, choosing instead to simply leave it alone and complain about it. This is nothing short of moral cowardice.

The cynic is a moral coward. His cowardice has left him bitter and jaded and not a whole lot of fun to be around. With all of this in mind, the opposite of cynicism is hope. I don’t just mean some pollyannaish hope either. That will only give rise to more cynicism. The opposite of cynicism is a belief that things will be better tomorrow than they are today that is sufficiently genuine as to motivate the hopeful person to take actions that will hasten the arrival of this better day.

One of the purposes of religion is to offer people hope. And sincere believers of any faith tend to be a more hopeful people than those who have rejected religion in some capacity. This, however, is why false religion gives rise to so much cynicism. Let me narrow in our focus here a bit more and talk just about false belief in the Christian religion. Setting aside atheistic caricatures of God’s character that are designed to make the whole thing seem as unappealing as it possibly can, if the things Christians believe about God are true and right, He is good and wise and loving and just and true and powerful and righteous and holy and compassionate and kind and we could go on but let’s stop there. He is not merely able but wholly committed to redeeming and restoring creation to a place of sinless perfection one day. In other words, He is going to make tomorrow better than today. Not only that, His making tomorrow better than today actually starts today such that we can start to experience it in bits and pieces now.

People who are committed to that belief, behave a certain way. More specifically, they make the world around them better by their commitment to working toward the better tomorrow God has planned for His people. They work toward the goal of increasing the number of God’s people as well so that no one has to miss out on that day when it arrives. People who are not so committed to that belief, however, don’t do this. They may go through some of the rituals of the religion, but they don’t let their engagement with any kind of a belief in God go beyond that. Because it doesn’t go beyond that. And because it doesn’t go beyond that, while they may talk a bit of a game of Christianity, they don’t really play it.

Well, what do you think is the natural conclusion about God on the part of people who observe these godless Christians; these professed followers of Jesus who go on to live their lives as if He doesn’t actually exist? They conclude exactly that: He doesn’t actually exist. And when there are very many of these godless Christians conveying this message by the odd combination of their words and lifestyle in a particular area, the whole area starts to become cynical. The people who don’t try to profess any kind of belief in God start to assume that people who say they do don’t ever actually believe it. And the reason they don’t actually believe it is because it isn’t actually true. They’re not actually trying to do things for other people or make the world a better place. They’re just grasping onto one particular straw in the hope that it makes their own life a bit easier or at least more tolerable. In other words, they are motivated only by self-interest and nothing more. That’s cynicism.

When people who claim to be God’s people call on His name when it’s convenient, but call on the name of some other god when that’s convenient, the natural conclusion of the people around them who do not make such a claim is that none of these gods are powerful enough or good enough to really make any kind of difference in the world. None of them are really able to make tomorrow better than today. We just have to play them off of one another in hopes that we can get what we need from them and that’ll be enough. It’s self-interest all the way down.

God didn’t and doesn’t want any of this. So, He gave His people a command to not contribute to it. If you are going to be dedicated to me, then be dedicated to me. Don’t give any attention at all to anyone else (by which I mean any other gods). Don’t even let their names be heard on your lips. Don’t merely reach out for what seems to work in a given moment. Commit yourself to something entirely larger than yourself. Commit yourself to me and the life that is truly life. Trust in my promise to make tomorrow better than today. Trust in it and demonstrate that trust by keeping my commands. Keep them when it’s convenient and keep them when it isn’t. Don’t let the world think you don’t really believe I exist. Don’t let them think my character isn’t really what I’ve proclaimed it to be by living as if it’s not true by doing what you want rather than what I’ve commanded; by being motivated purely by self-interest rather than trust in me. Let the world know I’m here and I’m real. Let them know that I’m worth following.