God's Antidote to Gloom and Doom

The Holy Spirit Can Lead Us Into a Brighter Future

Doom spending. People do it when they are concerned about the economy and foreign affairs. Feeling stressed by the state of the world, they soothe themselves with a shopping spree.

Here is how it works: A young man might feel that he can never afford to buy a house, so he splurges on a dream vacation. An older woman feels that she cannot do anything to bring peace to the Middle East, so she buys a new outfit. Enjoying luxuries like travel and designer clothing feels so much better than worrying about the future. Some people are making big purchases — including luxury cars — because they fear the impact of tariffs.

I have no doubt that a Taylor Swift concert in Paris is an amazing experience. But is it really worth the airfare, the expense of hotels and restaurants, and the cost of tickets that run from $187 to over $11,000? Apparently so, since about 20 percent of Swift’s Paris tickets were purchased by Americans in 2024.

According to Psychology Today, doom spending is when people shop to self-soothe because they feel pessimistic about the economy and their future. And since we often spend when we are sad, the reasons can be very personal. “One of my parents became really sick a few years ago,” said Mykail James to Today, “and the first thing I did was buy a professional grade stand mixer and learn how to bake.”

She also bought a 25-pound flour bag and baking supplies that amounted to nearly $2,000. “I couldn’t really do anything about my parent’s health, so I started baking,” she says. “And I did all of that because I was sad.”

Housing costs. Global instability. Climate change. Tariffs. Family illnesses. All cause stress. All can trigger pessimism and sadness. All can become the cause of doom spending.

Such spending makes sense, emotionally, but it is problematic. Doom spending makes it harder to achieve financial goals such as buying a house or saving for retirement. Ylva Baeckström, a lecturer in finance and a former banker, told CNBC that doom spending is both “unhealthy and fatalistic.” It is unhealthy because it puts a strain on personal finances, and it is fatalistic because it is based on the belief that doom is inevitable.

So, what is the solution? Dan Ariely, a professor of psychology and behavioral economics, believes that physical exercise can be a buffer against doom spending. “This seems simple,” he says to Today, “but next time you reach for your phone or computer to doom shop, put the device down and exercise instead.” Lift some weights or take a walk or a run. “Exercise is an excellent reminder, viscerally, that we have control.”

He also recommends that people do anything they can do to reduce their stress. “Stress is a major component of impulsive behavior,” he says. And what can be done to reduce it? “Spending time with loved ones. Getting enough sleep. Laughter.”

In addition, our Christian faith contains a powerful antidote to sadness and stress. The Holy Spirit arrived on the day of Pentecost, and it has been present in the life of the church ever since. The Spirit is God’s antidote to gloom and doom. We are being led by the Spirit into a better future.

The book of Acts tells us that when the day of Pentecost had come, the apostles were all together in Jerusalem. Since Jesus had recently ascended into heaven, they had no one to guide them. The future was uncertain; it was anything but bright.

Then, “suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind” — like the wind from God that swept over the face of the waters on the first day of creation. “Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them” — like the fire that marked the presence of God on Mount Sinai. “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability” (Acts 2:2-4).

God knew that the apostles were feeling gloom and doom, so God sent the Holy Spirit in a burst of Pentecost power. Suddenly, a new future was being created. The fire of God was in the room. The apostles were given the gift of other languages, so that they could speak to all kinds of people about “God’s deeds of power” (v. 11). The future was no longer dark. It was bright. Full of purpose and possibility.

God’s antidote to sadness and stress continues to be given to us today. In his letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul tells us that “all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God” (8:14). Because we are led by the Spirit, we are never alone in our struggles — Almighty God is always right beside us as our Heavenly Parent. We do not have to “fall back into fear,” says Paul, because God has given us “a spirit of adoption” (v. 15). Adoption means that we have been chosen by God, hand-picked for inclusion, made part of God’s family for all eternity.

But that’s not all! When you are part of a family, you are eligible to receive an inheritance. Yes, an inheritance! What good news this is, especially when we are feeling gloomy about the future. Paul says, “When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” — “Abba” being the Aramaic word for Father — “it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ” (vv. 15-17).

Suddenly, the doom and gloom of the future begins to fade. We can see ourselves as children of God, heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. With the Spirit in our life, we are assured that God is our Abba, and that all of the riches of life with God are going to be given to us. Yes, there may be struggles along the way, but Paul assures us that if we suffer with Jesus, then we will “also be glorified with him” (v. 17).

But how does the power of Pentecost reveal itself in daily life? In my novel War Bug, a pastor named Harley Camden preaches a sermon to his congregation at Riverside Methodist Church. It comes after a very traumatic week in the life of their tiny Virginia town, one in which the pastor’s own life has been threatened.

“God does not care about the survival of the fittest,” says Harley. “God is concerned only with the survival of the faithful.” A loud “amen” comes from a man in the choir behind him, followed by “amens” from a handful of people throughout the congregation. Everyone smiles, including Harley, since an “amen chorus” has never been heard in the worship of Riverside Methodist Church. The Spirit is alive and well in that Sunday morning service.

“Yes, God is concerned only with the survival of the faithful,” Harley continues. “Consider the facts leading up to that first Easter morning: Jesus had died; Judas had betrayed; Peter had denied; the rest of the disciples had lost their nerve; the supportive Palm Sunday crowd had ended up calling for crucifixion. No reasonable person would have said that the Jesus movement was winning the battle for survival. Am I right?”

Harley sees nods throughout the congregation. Then he says, “But in the eyes of God, faithfulness is fitness. Because Jesus was faithful, God raised him from the dead. Because the witnesses to the resurrection were faithful, God gave birth to the church. Because Riverside Methodist is faithful in the face of so many challenges today, God will give us new life as well.”

In a world of doom and gloom, the Holy Spirit promises that God will give us new life. Since “all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God,” our lives have new purpose and possibility (v. 14). The future is bright, because we are “heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ” (v. 17). Like Harley Camden, we will discover that faithfulness is the greatest form of fitness.

If we open ourselves to the power of the Holy Spirit, we will discover a life of purpose and possibility. If we follow the guidance of the Spirit, we will find that God has a bright and beautiful future in store for us — one that is grounded in our faith, not our finances.