There seems to be a growing trend these days to give up on
people. To throw in the towel on our personal relationships and justify it by
calling other people toxic. Everywhere I look on social media, Facebook,
Pinterest, Twitter, memes are posted describing the need to walk away from
toxic people. The memes state that you either need to walk away or let them go.
But what exactly is the meaning of toxic? How are these people toxic?
Do we
not live in a fallen world?
Are we not called to love the broken sinner?
I
understand how difficult it is to love a broken person who is close to you.
There’s a risk in every relationship you have. Whether it be your mother, your
friend, your spouse, your child, you sibling, your mentor- chances are, every
human you are in a relationship with will hurt you. Eventually people will say
or do something cruel, whether it be due to ignorance, anger, or out and out
cruelty, our relationships contain hurt. We are humans. We make mistakes, we
speak before we think, we put our feet in our own mouths, we lie, we sin. I am thankful that Christ never labeled me as
toxic, I am thankful that when he prayed in the garden asking His Father to
take this cup from Him, that God didn't respond by saying Christ didn't have to
die, because humanity was toxic and didn't deserve saving. I’m glad Christ
never walked away, I’m glad he never let me go.
I’m sure I've pissed some people off. I've been
there. I spent the better part of the year not talking to my family because
they hurt me, and I justified my unforgiveness time and time again. I closed my ears to Christ’s call to love, to
forgive 70x7 times, because I kept picking at the scabs at my emotional wounds
and I convinced myself that turning my back on my loved ones was what I needed
to do to protect myself.
But, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
We don’t believe we’re strong enough to forgive, we don’t believe we can
survive the trials of this life. We forget that Christ is our strength; we
forget that He came to give us life and give it to us abundantly. We justify
giving up by labeling people as toxic, when they are just like us, broken
humans. So we throw up excuses, we walk away, and post lame memes all over the
internet to justify our weakness.
I don’t know about you but I’m sick of excuses in the guise
of dignity. I’m sick of the world broadcasting to me that we’re just supposed
to give up on each other. I’m sick of a world that seeks instant gratification
and momentary peace at the cost of real relationship. I’m sure Jesus wasn't
filled with warm fuzzies for humanity when nails were being driven through his
hands and feet. I’m pretty sure His flesh would have liked to walk away, to let
us go, instead of taking on the sins of the world. We are wholly and mightily loved by the God
of the universe. And what does He command us to do? To love the Lord our God
with all hearts and to love our neighbors as ourselves. He did not
say only
love the neighbors who are good to you, He did not say love your neighbors until
they hurt you. He simply said to love. When we call others toxic, when we call
for the excision of people from our lives, we seem to forget our own sins, we
seem to suddenly view the rest of the world from a pedestal of sinlessness. Can we please stop posturing and pretending like our happiness is the most important thing? Our world is full of hurting people, we could use a little love and forgiveness and little less justification.
