We all have people in our lives who can get on our nerves, aggravate us, perhaps by saying things under their breath or behind our backs.
You have to see it as a distraction.
It’s the enemy trying to bait you into conflict.
How much time and energy are wasted by things that don’t matter; how much time and energy that could have been devoted to worship, praise, and prayer?
Everyone has this challenge. It might be a coworker. It could be a relative. It may be a “friend.” Perhaps a neighbor.
Forget about trying to change them. You don’t need their approval. You need God’s. They can’t fulfill your destiny. You have to have your walls up. Scripture says to guard your heart. Keep the secret places of your soul out of reach. Rudeness, offense, stirring up trouble; throwing guilt on you.
No need to respond. Don’t let it in. Blunt it with reserve. Build a wall with holiness: inner purity.
When you respond in kind, what do you do?
Your anger and frustration, your exasperation, create energy they and the spirits around them feed upon. It only makes things worse!
Don’t let anyone into the deepest part of you. This is for you and Jesus.
Keep their bitterness out.
You can’t change your neighbor, your cousin. You can’t control their venom. You can control how you respond to it. The antidote: calm reserve. Don’t let them have the “thermostat” to your emotions.
Ignore. Overlook. Go to that inner placid sanctuary.
Do that and you’ve passed the test.
Turn the inner walls gold.
Psalm 27:5 says, “For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock.”
Don’t get drawn into senseless battles. How many times have you corrected a situation by losing your temper, by lashing back? Probably the answer is: none.
You have to know when to fight back. Most of the time you need to simply move on. Correct, yes, but with patience.
God will take care of injustice, antagonism, and iniquity. Take your power back.
When you get dragged down into the mud, you are not rising to Him.
Don’t bother defending yourself against senseless pettiness. Take the high road. You never get lost taking that.
Walk away from troublemakers. Keep clear of those whose energy is anger. Save your fight for the real enemy, who is the devil.
God will champion your cause.
Leave it in His Hands and the arrows of troublemakers will not penetrate.
[More on “toxic” people next week]