Welcome to the blog of Pastor Alton Stone, from Simpsonville, SC. Pastor Stone is a retired Ordained Bishop of The Church of God, Cleveland, Tennessee with over 45 years of pastoral ministry.

Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Toxic People (Part 3)


Toxic People (Part 3)

Romans 14:16, 17

-Toxic people in your life don’t just behave negatively towards you, but towards everyone they interact with.  What they say and do is a projection of their own reality.  Even if they say something to you that seems personal it likely has zero to do with you. This is important to remember because what these negative people say and do shouldn’t be taken to heart.  Although you don’t have control over what they say and do; you do have control over whether or not you allow them to say and do these things to you.  You alone can deny their venomous words and actions from invading your heart and mind.  If you feel like these people are getting to you, take a break and give yourself some space to breathe. Positive things happen when you distance yourself from negative people.  Doing so doesn’t mean you hate them, it simply means you respect yourself.

-Toxic people are excessively envious of what you have. When someone is excessively envious of what you have, there’s a good chance what they really want is to take it from you. Excessive envy doesn’t tell you how much someone admires you. It tells you how much they dislike themselves. Be careful that they don’t pull you down.  Oftentimes no amount of love, or promises, or proof from you will ever be enough to make them feel better about themselves.  For the broken pieces they carry, are pieces they must mend for themselves.  

-Toxic people motivate you to be judgmental or hateful. Truth be told, no human being is superior.  No race, size, or shape is inferior.  Collective judgments about others are wrong and only judgmental hypocrites make them. If you judge others by their skin color, their body size, and their outer beauty, you can miss everything that’s good about them.  It is amazing the quality of people you will learn about and meet in this world if you can simply get past the fact that lots of people are not dressing and living the way you do. People who motivate you to judge or hate others are as bad as bad company gets.  Avoid them at all costs.



In closing, let me remind you to not to spend time with people who can’t see you for the way you are, and not as they wish to think you are.  Spend even more time with those who truly know about you, and love and respect you anyway. If someone expects you to be someone you’re not, take a step back.  It’s wiser to lose toxic relationships over being who you are, than to keep them intact by acting like someone you’re not.  It’s easier to nurse a little heartache and meet someone new, than it is to piece together your own shattered identity.  It’s easier to fill an empty space within your life where someone else used to be, than it is to fill the empty space within yourself where you used to be.


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