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The godly give good advice to their friends; the wicked lead them astray. Proverbs 12:26
In his book “When to Walk Away: Finding Freedom from Toxic People”, Gary Thomas talks about the power and danger of toxic relationships. Toxic people can destroy relationships and steal our freedom to be all we could be.
Toxic people can be found in the church and sometimes spread their toxicity ‘in the name of Jesus’ love’. Stories abound of people who stray from God because of toxic people who came into their lives and drew them away to a life totally foreign to what their upbringing taught them.
I have a friend who nearly lost his family because of his drinking. He was on the way to being an alcoholic when his wife walked out with his two daughters.
As we spent time talking about the situation he shared with me that he’d go into a bar with his friends with no intention of drinking, but once there, he was coerced by his friends to have ‘just one’, which unfortunately led to many.
Thankfully, he made the choices he needed to save his family. He chose to avoid the bar crowd and focus on more wholesome friendships. He and his wife are back together and are in the process of healing.
Am I saying we should only have ‘Christian friends’? Of course not! Jesus hung out with the socially outcast more than the ‘spiritually secure’. Yet, through the power of the Holy Spirit we need to be open to sharing our faith in a gentle way and get our strength from relationships that celebrate Jesus.
Influencers can be negative or positive. Choose to follow the positive, Christ centered influencers!
My enemies will retreat when I call to you for help. This I know: God is on my side! Psalms 56:9
Sometimes scripture is more meaningful if we read it in reverse. For example, Psalm 56:9 says, “My enemies will retreat when I call to you for help…”
So, what happens in the opposite? What happens when I don’t call on the Lord for help. Then what happens to my enemies? They attack of course!
How many times are we in battle with an enemy and grow weary in the fighting simply because we haven’t called for support from our God? Jesus says the enemy is intent on killing and destroying us emotionally, spiritually, perhaps even physically.
Sociologists tell us that when we are in battle we have two main options, fight or flight. I suggest that for us as believers we have a third option. We can fight, but the enemy is too strong. We can flee, but reality is the battles most of us are in run faster than we do. When fighting isn’t possible and running isn’t reasonable try calling.
Our God is just waiting in the wings to give aid. The enemy scoffs at our futile attempts to defeat him, but when he sees God in his power he flees. Don’t fight battles you were never intended to fight. Give them over to the one who will fight for you.
“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts“ Isaiah 55:8-9
We live in age where knowledge is increasing at an amazing rate. According to one study, the rate of ‘knowledge volume’ increases every 12 hours, compared to doubling every 25 years in 1945! That boggles my mind!
One of my favorite movies is Apollo 13. It’s amazing to realize that crisis happened before computers as we know them. My cell phone has more power than anything they had back then, yet they put men on the moon!
While the increase of knowledge on the human realm is amazing, what’s more amazing is that no matter how much knowledge we gain on the human level, nothing compares to the knowledge God has.
When Job was questioning why God had allowed his trials, God responded with several questions for Job to answer. Job was speechless as he thought of the immensity of God’s knowledge and power. People have been trying to figure God out since we left the Garden of Eden and with all the knowledge we’ve gained since then, we are no closer to understanding the immensity of our God.
Psalms 135:6 reminds us that “The Lord does whatever pleases him throughout all heaven and earth, and on the seas and in their depths.”
We can question, but we may never understand. God will do as he pleases. His actions may never be understood. But his plan is always for our good. Rather than trying to understand God, work to know Him better. Rather than question what you are going through, seek to see what you can learn.
His methods may not be pleasant, but the results will eventually work out for your good.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 