CAUTION: If you are involved in an intimate relationship
with someone who is a threat to your safety; emotionally, physically, or
spiritually; get out. This posting is not intended to convince people to remain
in relationships where they are exploited or abused.
There has been a trend on social media that I have noticed.
It probably is not new, but it is concerning. This is the idea of ridding
yourself of toxic people. The idea is that toxic people drain the life force
out of us, and by getting rid of them, we free up time and energy. I wonder how
many people have deemed me toxic and have decided to dispose of me.
There are a
few problems with this approach. Even more so if you claim to follow Christ.
First, toxic is so loosely defined that almost anyone can be considered toxic. Mostly
I suspect that those deemed as toxic simply annoy the person. Second, we are
ALL toxic. If this concept was followed through to its logical conclusion, we
would all be segregated and isolated.
If you have
been called to Christ, then loving your neighbour is part of the package. Our
neighbour is defined by Christ for us in the parable of the Good Samaritan. Of
note in his answer as to who is our neighbour; the Samaritan was a despised
person. I would imagine there would be people that would consider him toxic. It
is not up to us to decide who we are called to minister.
More
importantly, the judging others as toxic, and disposing of said people,
actually makes what is wrong with us as a culture worse. In these days of
divisiveness, particularly within the realm of politics, being contemptuous of
each other has increased the distance between people. We need to learn how to
honour each other in our differences.
This
divisiveness has come within the body of Christ. I bump up against it everyday.
My faith as well as my politics, is defined by the compassion that I am called
to live in. The use of terns developed in 18th Century France
strikes me as being a bit awkward. (The entire Right Wing – Left Wing is
outdated.) So much of what we deal with requires more than simple answers, and require
further thought than right or wrong. To dismiss me, is to risk dismissing God.
The same holds true for those I disagree with, regardless of how vehemently I
do so.
It is
particularly within the church that I see the need for this ability to be
reconciled to the differences of others as being the most important. Lest we
forget, we are called to be the salt and light of the word. We are called to
add value to the world around us, which includes those people who annoy us. We
are also called to be light, to show the way. There is little room to engage in
the self-indulgence of ridding ourselves of people.
Lately, I
have seen that intolerance undermine our faith, denigrate God, and obscure his
glory. Mostly, it is for the wrong reasons. Those reasons rarely, if ever, are
Godly in nature.
We are told
that there are those that we should have nothing to do with at all. Those who,
“have a form of Godliness, but deny its power.” (2 Tim 3:5) We all know those
who might be defined as such. I have met them, and while I have shunned some, I
am more inclined to watch them from a distance.
There are two reasons why I am leery of this worldly
approach to others. First, often those who are the despised ones are the very
same that are valued in heaven. Secondly, we are called to be a healing
presence in the world. To rid ourselves of those we deem as toxic may exclude
the person from the only gospel that they may know. I hope it does not surprise
you that we are the gospel to others.
I am not
calling on people to agree with people when you don’t. I am calling on people
to not call out doctrines and attitudes that are harmful. I am calling on the
people of God to address each other with the respect that we deserve. This is
not easy to do. Some of the statements by others go against the grain of what I
believe to the point where being vulgar is a temptation. I am calling on us, to
treat each other with the dignity that is inherent in each of us.
Thank you for letting me ramble.
