In Matthew 28, Jesus said " go and make disciples of all nations." Christianity is all about relationships, all about friendship, all about discipleship. Discipleship requires close intimacy. Look at Jesus and the disciples, they went everywhere together, they ate together, attended feasts together, travel together. For 3 and half years they were his closest family on earth. Each disciple had their own personality, own aspirations, own motive for following Christ and yet He loved them all. Rivalries existed among the disciples and yet Jesus loved them all and kept them close to His heart. Why ? Because Jesus is love .
But we now have a christianity that is no longer following the Master's example, we now have a toxic christianity who's example is the selfish world out there. God called us to be the head, to be the one leading, but sadly most Christians are the "tail," following the world and its godless examples. Our society is experiencing a loneliness epidemic. Why ? Because of selfishness and pride. People care only about themselves and as a result they have no one around them. Mental health is now the popular thing and everyone is talking about mental health which is good, but as Christians we should take the good and reject the evil.
And one of the evils I have been hearing concerning mental health is to "stay away from toxic people in order to protect your mental health." This in itself is a toxic and selfish statement. If i had heard this statement solely from wordly and godless people I would have less of a problem, but when I Christians repeating the same toxic statement, it bothers me greatly. My first question is how do you know if you are not the one who is toxic ? In proverbs 18:24 , the Bible says," a man that hath friends must shew himself friendly." A person who is not toxic has friends, close friends with different personalities.
The Christian is in the world to be the salt of the world. The Christian is in the world to be the "head." To lead by example. And God has not called to hide like cowards behind "protecting my mental health, " excuses, but God has called us to be friendly, to go and make friends, intimate friends, disciples to bring into His kingdom. If Jesus was like us, Peter would be lost. For Peter betrayed him, by denying Him 3 times. We would "protect our mental health" from such a friend and stay away from him. But Christ restored him into His fellowship. We must follow the Master.
If you find yourself surrounded by toxic people everywhere you go, I will say maybe you are the one who is toxic. There is a quote that says, " like attract like." If all you are attracting are toxic personality, than look no further than the self as the real issue. Maybe others are the one staying away from you. If you find yourself unable to maintain close friendship with others, look into the mirror. If you find yourself moving from friends to friends because these friends are toxic, flawed, untrustworthy, then look into the mirror. Whatever you accuse others of doing, look first into the mirror because most likely you are projecting your own characteristics on others. But there is hope.
There is hope because Jesus came to die for toxic people and all of us are toxic. You don't believe you are toxic ? Then look at your relationship with God. Do you treat Him right ? Look at your past relationships. Are you ever at fault, or are the other people always at fault ? If God thought in the same selfish way as us, He would stay away from us to protect His mental health, but praise be to God, He is not as toxic and selfish as us, so He is constantly reaching out to us, making us His friends. And God is calling us to do the same.
Jesus came to save us while we were still toxic and we are still toxic because we continue to do things the Lord hate. But the Lord is still working in us to transform us into His image . Let us be as tender and compassionate to others . Don't get me wrong now, I'm not saying we should foolishly get into relationships with everyone, we should use discernment and seek counsel from the Lord and others . But the key point is we must not be like the world and be selfish by hiding from others so we don't get hurt or disappointed. To love others is to risk getting hurt and yet to love others is to reveal Christ in the life .
Let us not be toxic like the world, but let us follow the Master. Let us reach out to others, even those we believe who are toxic. Let us pray for them, let us ask the Lord for the strength to love them like Christ has loved us. Let us seek to develop strong friendship with others and when they fail us, let us do all in our power to restore that individual. Hiding away from others to protect our " mental health " is nothing but selfishness hiding under a Christian garb, a cold heart hiding under falsehood. Love suffer long. May the Lord help us fulfill our mission. Let us go and make disciples like He did, loving them despite their flaws, toxicity 🙏🏾.
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