Trust is the path of life, cynicism the way of death

Conspiracy theories. One thing I know is they take our thinking way off track. They poison our minds with fear and rob our hearts of peace, hope and joy. Conspiracy theories are a bigger threat to our wellbeing than trust is.

Instead... let’s go to words penned over 1,950 years ago:

“do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters,
whatever is true,
whatever is honourable,
whatever is good,
whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely,
whatever is commendable,
if there is any excellence,
if there is anything worthy of praise,
THINK ABOUT THESE THINGS."
(Philippians 4:6-8)

There is ALWAYS something
true,
honourable,
good,
pure,
lovely,
or commendable
to notice.

In other words, it’s what we think about that drives our thoughts, our feelings, our actions. If we nurture cynicism, we become cynics. If we nurture trust, we become more sound of mind.

It is better by far to have a clear mind able to reason.
Cynicism poisons our ability to think reasonably.

With cynicism, we actually begin to see the evil that isn’t even there. Imagine that! With trust, we may not see all the evil to see, but we know we can trust God, right?

Finally, the most valuable thing I learned in three disciplines at three universities is the vastness of knowledge. We can only imagine the quantity and quality of the minds that speak of societal wisdom — a collective wisdom that is trustworthy.

So many people who know what they are talking about.
Yet we believe in our roughshod memes on Facebook.

It can seem too much for people to trust a system that is too big to understand, but isn't God too big to understand?

The best, simplest advice ever: trust God.

Perhaps the reason why we’re most tempted to consider conspiracy theories is we want the unexplainable explained.  We want neat albeit outrageous explanations for those things that will always befuddle us.

But God is a mystery as is a lot of life.

It is easier to believe a conspiracy theory than to trust.  But to trust is the path of life.

Photo by Rob Mulally on Unsplash