A Toxic Mix

I vaguely recall the fairy tale “Midas and the Golden Touch”,  where everything this king  touched turned to solid gold. (Now that may SEEM like a dream come true, but imagine anything/everything you hold dear, including your beloved daughter,  instantly turned to rock-hard, impenetrable gold!  I’d bet you’d be sorry, even amid all the ‘stuff’ all that gold might buy to make you happy.)

Anyway, the mental picture I have is of this young daughter with delighted face frozen in golden infamy…never to return.  When the grieving Midas , desperate to find her inside the golden shell, hits the hard exterior with a huge boulder, it only shatters into a million pieces…and the girl is no more. Nothing remains, except gold pieces, dust, and a brokenhearted father.

This strong imagery reminds me of another toxic mix, The lethal mixture of which I speak is one that sneaks in the human spirit of one who is not diligent to be wary of it. Indeed, its stealth is cunning as it weasles into the most unsuspecting soul. And its final end is as devastating as the imaginary one in Midas’ story, so  that there is little (real) life left.

Listen as I describe its progression..

It begins as a Critical spirit, picking and complaining about this or that, and is typically directed at one person,  organization, or (often) authority structure.  (Maybe at a husband, a boss, a pastor, a teacher, a relative, a church, or even at “religion” itself….)

Left unchecked, the rut is forged and so it becomes easier and automatic to see the negative, to point out the ‘wrong’, to see the bad.  Over time, in seemingly indistinguishable ways, a  lens of self distortion settles into one’s eyes ,  scales of ingratitude  replace any reasonable logic and negate any chance of mercy in one’s view.  Almost everything (in this area) becomes bad; anything good is miniscule, unnoticed, insignificant, non-existent.  Time is enjoyably spent describing the perceived wrongs with any who will listen, or continues to be privately rehearsed in one’s mind.

Here I pause to caution and encourage self-analysis: Do YOU have any area where you offer up repeated complaint, objection, grievance?  The greater issue here is not really the object of your criticism (the problems you bemoan—real as they are--are but a small hand grenade); the greater threat (as a nuclear weapon would be) is the hard hearted judgement you cast on God & what He’s allowed in your life by this disapproval.  Remember: HE is ultimately responsible. As you malign, complain,  whine, you direct this to His holy throne. Beware!!!

A critical spirit left unrepented of is not benign. It easily develops further into one of two harmful entities: cynicism or bitterness, sometimes both.  Combined, the three are noxious.

Cynicism is incapable of seeing anything without skepticism; it holds little hope, is pessimistic and grows increasingly unable to notice the hopeful or positive at all. People, relationships, circumstances, even God and all His workings are held in suspicion, for a cynical perspective breathes doom and gloom , even if it is amid words of humor or sarcasm.  The offense in cynicism is how it insults God.  With one finite judgment, the sentence is cast on how God is running the world (or a part of it): It is found wanting.   And everything related then becomes suspect and an object of doubt. At the root?  Putrid, sinful, shameful allegations against God’s goodness or wisdom.

Bitterness is the final destination of this lethal progression. 

Here ingratitude, complaint, self will,  human conclusions, and sometimes anger at perceived (or real) wrongs are throned supreme…and final.  “That boss can never redeem herself”,  “my husband will never get it right”, “ my church is so out of touch”,  etc….  The hard heartedness within us becomes comfortable and familiar, eventually imperceptible,  and we settle into the rigid, ruinous crevices of this rocky cliff ---a place  never meant to be inhabited at all.  

Joy is absent, replaced by a murky substitute that takes glee only in another joining us or when we  get to argue our sordid logic of why the irrational should be seen as truth.

Life becomes small and confined.

 When hope and faith in God is squelched by self’s refusal to accept God’s plan and instead insists on our own, well, that ends like it did for Eve when she tried that.

Here I caution all of us: Allow no spirit of grievance, complaint, negative spirit, or self-determined judgement  to long persist.  Go to God with it; He is big enough to fix the situation should it be His will, but know it is not Him who encourages you to harbor its burden within your heart.  God invites you to trust Him (even  in things you aren’t happy with), cast your care on Him (even when you’d rather think you have an airtight legal case to keep the care and bring judgement on who is responsible!) and wait in patience for His hand to work it out. But do not allow its waste to cesspool within  your soul!

Sip not the brew of criticism, drink not the steaming potion of cynicism , and refuse to warm yourself with the cup of bitterness . It remains a toxic cocktail.  And fully consumed, it will produce a heart as cold, rock-hard and lifeless as if Midas himself had touched it.

Heed the warning of Scripture.

“See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled.”  Hebrews 12:15