#3. The third thing that makes people toxic is bitterness.
What makes people toxic is bitterness from rejecting God’s grace. In your life, you’re going to go through problems and you’re going to be hurt. Sorry, but you live on a broken planet. It really doesn’t matter so much that you’re hurt as much as your response to it. How do you respond to the hurts in life?
God says I will give you the grace to handle all the hurts of life. What is grace? Grace is when God gives you what you need not what you deserve. He says you go through a bankruptcy or credit problem. I’ll give you the grace to handle that. You go through a marriage difficulty or somebody spits on you, I will give you the grace to handle that. You go through being turned down for a promotion, I’ll give you the grace to handle that. You had a tough time at school, somebody breaks your heart. Whatever it is. You have a health issue, you deal with cancer whatever, God says, “My grace is sufficient for you.” God says “I’m not just going to give you strength. I am your strength.”
But when you reject the grace of God and you don’t let God help you in the hurts, you’re going to get bitter. When you say instead of “I’m turning to God,” “I can handle this on my own.” You’re going to get bitter. Anytime you handle a hurt on your own, you’re going to get bitter. Anytime you try to solve the problem yourself without God, you’re going to get bitter. You’re going to carry it on and on. Some of you have been carrying hurts of your past for twenty, thirty, forty years.
When you don’t let the grace of God into your life and you try to handle the problems all by yourself, that makes you toxic. The Bible says this in Hebrews 12:15 “Be careful that no one misses the grace of God so that no root of bitterness grows up among you.” Bitterness can get rooted in your heart. And when it gets rooted in your heart it makes trouble because it can poison a large number of people. And the source of bitterness is rejecting the grace of God. And it’s contagious.
SO WHAT? This is where the rubber really hits the road - How will you deal with the toxic religion in your life??
#1. Confess your sin. 1 John 1:8-10 (TEV) says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and there is no truth in us. But if we confess our sins to God, he will keep his promise and do what is right: he will forgive us our sins and purify us from all our wrongdoing. If we say that we have not sinned, we make a liar out of God, and his word is not in us.”
#2. Refuse to play the game. One of the Pharisees’ favorite games was to try to trick Jesus with questions. Here’s an example: Matthew 22 say, “Then the Pharisees met together to think of a way to trap Jesus into saying something for which they could accuse Him. But Jesus knew their evil motives. ‘You hypocrites!’ He said. ‘Who are you trying to fool with your trick questions?’” Jesus was saying - You think I just woke up this morning? That I just got out of bed? I understand these games that you’re playing. I’m not going to fall for this trap.
Whenever they tried to get Jesus in a corner He refused to debate the Pharisees. Usually when they asked Him a question, What He would do is He’d ask them a question back and keep on walking. He would not get hooked. He just would not engage with toxic people.
#3. Live for an audience of one. If you live for an audience of one and say “I’m only going to worry about what God wants me to do,” then it will always be the right thing. 1 Thessalonians 2 it says “We’re not trying to please men but God who tests our hearts.” When you do that you will find great relief from trying to please everybody else. Here’s your choice. Do you want to live your life with toxic religion? Or do you want to live your life with a healthy relationship to God? It’s your choice.
Prayer: If you’ve never begun that relationship with Christ, this is your time. I want you to follow me in this prayer. Just in your mind say “Me too, God,” as I pray it. “Dear God, I don’t want a toxic religion. But I want a relationship to You. I want to know Your truth and Your love and Your forgiveness and Your peace. Thank You for dying for me. Help me to understand it more. I want to learn to love You. I want to learn to trust You. Today I’m saying Yes to You as best as I know how. Set me free from toxic religion and give me the strength to deal with the toxic people in my life. I pray this in Your name. Amen.”
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