Wake Up, Look Up

Hello, everyone. Thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch and in today's episode, we're asking the question, did we discover a cure for loneliness? This is a very interesting article in the Wall Street Journal about a recent Stanford study. I, love this study. So they were looking at the problem of youth loneliness, which we've covered on WULU. It's an epidemic among young people. They are lonelier than ever. In fact, in 2023, 19% of young adults said they had no one to count on. No one in their minds that they could count on. That is basically one out of every five young adults saying they are completely and utterly alone. So what a Stanford research group set out to do is to figure out where that was coming from and was there actually a way to reverse it. And what they found the number one cause of loneliness among young people was cynicism about other people. In other words, young people feel as though people around them are not kind. They don't care, and as a result, they won't count on them. So the problem really isn't that they don't have anyone to count on. They don't think anyone is worth counting on. So then what the Stanford research group did is say, well, what would happen if we increased their perception of other people so that they actually knew people were kind and empathetic? And what they found is the more confidence people have in the kindness and empathy of others, the less lonely they become. In other words, the more stories I hear about kindness and empathy, the. The more likely I am to go engage other people. What they found is that in dorm rooms, for example, where they posted stats about kindness and empathy, students began to engage at a higher level. Now, I think that's fascinating because it means that we actually can help people who are lonely, but that all of our thinking about how to help them is actually wrong. You can't push lonely people to people. Hey, you should join a small group. You should show up at this event. You should go hang out at this place. Because if they're cynical about other people, then guess what? Even being in a room full of crowded people will still make them feel lonely. Instead, here's how, you help a lonely person. You share positive, true stories about the goodness of people. Is it any wonder, by the way, in an environment that is incredibly toxic, where all we do is talk about how awful everybody is all the time looking at you social media, that we're all feeling lonely. If people are really that awful, why would I want relationship with them? It made me think about a Proverb in Proverbs 8, 18:21, where the writer of proverbs says this death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits. Because this is a way, actually, that Christians can be redemptive that you might not have thought of if we commit ourselves to speaking well of other people. Now, I'm not talking about naivete or even being dishonest. I'm just saying if we force ourselves to see the good and talk about it, the truth is, there's plenty of bad out there. If that's what you want to focus on. There's also plenty of good. And the more we talk about the good that is happening in the world, the more people will begin to believe that people can be nice, that people can be empathetic, that people can be kind, and as a result, they'll go looking for connection. In other words, let me frame it to you as a pastor. It might be that the most effective invitation to your local church is not you saying to someone, you should come to church with me. Because if that person is cynical about people, then you're really just inviting them to a big space full of people that they think don't care about them. But if you talk about the kindness you see at church, if you say, for example, at Christ Community Chapel that you just watched 50 people spend all day loading 1,950 Thanksgiving baskets up with food and onto trucks to deliver, if you talk about when you shared what was going on in your life in your small group and the way you felt loved and cared for, if you talk about the person on the prayer team who prayed with you, or the door greeter who was so friendly, or the family you saw serving together. In other words, if you help people understand that in your church people are kind and warm and friendly and empathetic, guess what? People will want to be around that. You and I can be redemptive in this way. We choose to see the good in people. We choose to talk about it so that life would come from our tongue instead of death. The truth is, most of us, and, I'm looking at myself here, have been pretty guilty of breeding cynicism. But there's an opportunity for redemption here. So today, will you commit to seeing the good and talking about, even tweeting or posting or sharing about it? You might just save a lonely person. Hey, thanks for watching this episode of Wake Up, Look Up. If you enjoyed it, please help us get the word out by sharing it with someone you think might benefit from it. And while you're here, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get further content, or even download the CCC app, where you'll find even more resources to help you grow in your faith and relationship with Jesus Christ.

Have an article you’d like Zach to discuss? Email us at wakeup@ccchapel.com!