It amazes me greatly when I observe people claim that they are not sinners because of the things that they don’t do, you hear them mentioning how they don’t smoke and don’t drink. They will tell you that they are dedicated tithers and haven’t missed a church service in so many years that they couldn’t even tell you when last they weren’t present at a service.
They will tell you how they are respectable pillars of the community and rattle off the names of the multitude of charitable groups that they are active members of and how they are a firebrand spearheading many worthwhile causes and how they give of their time generously at the drop of a dime without a second thought because of the type of good person that they are.
Your red flags should go up at this point because when an individual has to continually push the fact that they are a good person then maybe they know something more about themselves that you don’t and in their own glowing self promotion they are merely trying to coverup sinister about their character.
Any person of a sane mind doesn’t need all of that proof and validation of who and what you are because your deeds and works automatically begin to validate what we are as individuals as our righteous or wicked tracks in the sands of our lifetime should speak more for our true selves more so than any mere words that we could say about our particular accomplishments and status in the first place!
Many of the same people who brag about the fact that they do not drink or smoke might be indulging in other things that may not be as physically toxic from the onslaught but just as damaging to them on a mental, physical and spiritual level as the years roll by.
This is an often overlooked aspect and category that most do not seem to be aware of as they go about living their lives. Drinking, smoking and fornicating are NOT the only things that can be toxic to your being on the mental/physical/spiritual level. While there are so many other types of indulges, addictions and behaviors that I could mention here but are too vast to list, allow me to ask you to open your mind to understand that what I call the “anti” fruits of the spirit.
But for us to go deep and truly absorb the concept of what I am trying to share, let’s touch on what the actual fruits of the spirit really are so we can speak on those toxic intangibles that usually fly undetected below the radar.
Let’s just list them out as they are described in scripture for brevity sake, I wouldn’t dare get up here to preach when don’t possess the credentials to do so.
So in Galatians 5: 22-23 in the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible it states:
22: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23: gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Now, while I am not going to go through all of the fruits of the spirit nor will I take the time to go into all of the seven deadly sins which are part of the “anti” fruits of the spirit, but just imagine how the toxic spirits of lust, anger, envy, gluttony, wrath, pride, sloth, acedia can affect your health and block you from truly enjoying a full and fruitful life.
But while we work to keep ourselves in the latest fashions of the day, our false pride is killing us because even though on one side we may feel as though we look good and are making a splash externally, this same type of toxic pride is keeping us in the carnal world and therefore not really attuned to walking in the spirit as we should. Sure, keep yourself looking nice, but is it really necessary to spend so many hours fussing about what you will wear for that day or spending huge amounts of money to fry your hair when you could take that time and money to help someone who is truly in need?
How kind are we really when we are quick to be angered when we don’t receive the narcissistic attentions that others have been honestly blessed with but we think that WE should be where they are because of our inflated egos gone wild?
Why is it that when some of us wake up in the early part of our day we don’t exude the joy that comes from knowing that our heart has been kept beating and our ability to breath was continued automatically for us but we wake up with a sense of dread and doom that is punctuated with a feeling of arrogance that tells me that too many of us take the act of being gifted with a new day for granted?
Let me get to the point, when we secretly harbor one or any combination of these toxic attributes from hell not only does it age us but it clogs up our filters and renders us impotent to truly enjoy a joy filled life because even though we may have acquired the trinkets and toys, gadgets and baubles of the day, we won’t even be able to truly soak in how much of a blessing it really is because we are infected to the core!
And the funny part is that I can spot these types a mile away and never really get along with them no matter how hard I’ve tried to work around THEIR levels of toxicity!
You read it right! I said THEIR levels of toxicity!
When you have been successful in cleansing yourself of your own particular brand of inner demon(s), don’t think that one who is infested with all types of strange power trips and lusts will like you to well because they see how jacked up they are when they observe the purity of spirit that you now possess!
It’s true!
Try for once to look below the surface in your interactions with others for a day in your life. Keep yourself centered and focused on the little things that people say to you and figure out the intentions behind it. Ask yourself what is the motivation for them saying and doing what they are executing. While there are many positive people out there, there are still to many lost toxic souls who are so far gone in there demonic possessions that they don’t even wish to come out of it and the only pleasure that they receive is the thrill of violating you to pull you on into it too.
The bad part about this is that these types of individuals usually come to you in a righteous path. They may prostitute their position of trust or the image of pseudo decency that they have projected out to the world as a cover for their true intentions.
I remember speaking to a friend of mine not too long ago who happens to be a highly adventurous woman, she is always doing some outrageous things and told me of a stunt that she recently pulled that proves my point…….
On a dare she went to a friend’s church that she had never attended before to prove a point of how most men whether they were saints or sinners, married or single will try to approach a sexy woman secretly and under the radar no matter what the external circumstances are around them.
It was to prove her point in a long ongoing and very intense debate that they had between them. Well, she showed up bright and early for service in the tightest black dress that she could get with stiletto heels that only the most confident woman would even attempt to move about the earth in.
She was to arrive alone and made sure to get there fashionably late to ensure that the congregation would “see” her arrival and create a stir because of her very alluring appearance.
When she first arrived through those huge doors in the sanctuary, her first glances were from the in-house church whores who had plans of their own and didn’t appreciate what they perceived as more competition to the very men of power that they themselves were trying to get to for their own carnal reasons. She said those looks that she received were only for a split second but were literally murderous as those in-house church whores scanned her sexy battle garb from head to toe like a hyped up fighter sizing up an opponent before the ensuing mega-battle before their adoring fans.
But my friend knew she wasn’t there for that, she was merely going out of her way to prove a point, and THAT she did!
She sent me a picture of her outfit and I have to say that she could have worn a potato sack and still would have snatched the attention of the congregation.
Her hourglass shape and nonexistent waistline alone broke hearts, stirred loins and ignited insecurities. But that slight peek of cleavage and the fire engine red lipstick as what fantasies were made of. According to all accounts, one would have thought that she was the one who was preaching because half of the men in the congregation couldn’t help but finding excuses to turn around and glance her way.
She didn’t mean to disrupt the service because she really isn’t that type of person, but she was determined to show her girlfriend how most men are the same and are weak no matter WHERE you go! She made her former debate-mate a believer.
By the time the service was over you could see the men covertly moving into position to be the first to “welcome” this new sister to the church and to invite them back again after engaging her in some of the most tension filled small talk this side of the pulpit!
These men couldn’t keep their eyes off of her boobs and she received so many cards in the name of business as well as offers to take her home if she didn’t have a ride.
To make matters worse she told her friend to wait on her while she went into the restroom just to further prove the point that there would be a crowd of anxious men waiting around in the hallway just to get a last “shot” to eventually bed down this new piece of meat that in their minds was up for grabs!
Mind you, all of this hoop-la from the men of this church was done in a very subtle manner with some very holy body language yet you could feel the intent behind the false smiles and the strained body language.
The funny part is that I have to say that her friend who now was in shock because she never really saw some of these men carry on this way was hard pressed to see one of these men who now loitered the church entrance hallway who DIDN’T have a wedding band on! While a little after service banter is the norm in most Black churches especially outside in the parking lot, she wondered why all of a sudden the hallway became popular?
She knew why and learned a lesson in the deceptions of people and how not to take the surface veneer as gospel until testing the spirit over a long period of time before allowing them into her personal space and to be granted the gift of her trust without first earning it. everything is not what it seems.
As our lusty looking friend quickly darted out of the ladies room and out to the church parking lot to jump in her car unscathed before these holy horny dogs could mount a righteously masked attack to find out more about her, her friend sat back and watch that hallway clear out to resemble a ghost town in less than ninety seconds, just enough time to let her know that the side that she so furiously defended in her debates was an undertaking that had no credibility.
It goes back to my own personally coined phrase – “You just don’t smear chocolate frosting on feces and call it chocolate cake, if you now believe that it is then merely take a bite!”
If you’ve lived any length of time in this world you would know by now to test the spirit before you go on taking any bites out of something that someone else tells you is cake!
