Authored in 1913, Pollyanna was a novel by Eleanor Porter that was made into a play, four movie adaptations, a TV movie, a TV series, a musical and a Brazilian telenovela! It was even the origin of a Parker Brothers board game, The Glad Game, produced for over 40 years.
The story is about an orphan girl with an irrepressibly positive attitude that visits her ill-humored aunt (against her wishes). Pollyanna’s optimism in the face of hardship overcame the disagreeable temperament of an entire town. One of her tactics was to play something she learned from her father, “The Glad Game,” where she looked for a way to be glad in crummiest of circumstances.
“Pollyanna” has become part of the American lexicon to describe someone that is excessively positive, to the point of naiveté. Unfortunately, many churches today take the easy way out by proclaiming a kind of “Pollyanna gospel.” Sermons are perpetually about how God is in your corner or that He’s got your back at the expense of repentance. While it is an encouraging reality that God will never leave us nor forsake us, Christians must not allow that to be their exclusive focus.
It is God’s will that believers give thanks in all circumstances, but that does not mean that a Christian’s mission is to cheer up a grumpy world. Instead of words like sin, repentance or judgment, the Pollyanna gospel seeks to cheer others up with platitudes like “Smile, God loves you.” It reveals itself on church signs like “Be like a sundial and count only your sunny hours,” “Laughter is a Mini Vacation” or “The Road to Heaven is through Your Heart.”
Real joy in the Christian’s life is an assurance borne out of the biblical gospel. Christian hope is not based on blissful ignorance or wishful thinking. It is a hope based on promises that can endure harsh realities. Unlike the Pollyanna gospel, a biblical hope does not put the believer to shame.
When Jesus said, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation” (Mk. 16:15), He was talking about a gospel that commands all people everywhere to repent. It is a gospel that echoes Jesus’ words, “I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Lk. 13:3). The gospel is frequently referred to as “good news,” but it is anything but that for the hard-hearted. According to Isaiah 52, it is good news of happiness that also elicits conflict. Consider the contrast made by the apostle Paul.
But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? (2 Cor. 2:14–16)
If you have ever been near an animal that had recently died, then you probably have a vivid memory of the noxious smell of decomposition. It’s sickening odor drives a person to flee. This is how the disobedient receive God’s truth. It is offensive.
Remembering this is helpful for a couple reasons. First, so you are neither surprised nor discouraged. Jesus said, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you” (Jn. 15:18). Second, if you find that your gospel witness never elicits a negative response, evaluate the content of your message. Is it possible you are taking the easy way out by delivering a Pollyanna gospel that promises improved outcomes instead of a gospel of repentance for the forgiveness of sins?
Your mission is not to brighten another’s day, but to deliver a truth that simultaneously brings hope and condemnation. “Jesus said, ‘For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind’” (Jn. 9:39). The medicine of the gospel does not need a spoonful of sugar to help it go down. Give it because people need it and give to them straight. In so doing, you will be able to repeat the words the of the apostle, “for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27).