 Today we're gonna talk about should you cut out toxic friends? It is kind of a complicated question, but believe me the answer is gonna be interesting. So stick around. This is The Daily Disciple where I hope you follow Jesus Daily. My name is Isaac David and let's get into it. Okay, so first off is we're thinking about toxic friends. I wanna make something super, super clear at the very beginning, cause I want there to be no confusion about this. If you are in an abusive relationship of any kind, whether that be emotional, spiritual, physical, then you need to get out of that. You can talk to a counselor or pastor, if you're not sure if this constitutes an abusive relationship, but believe me you gotta be careful about that stuff and you should not stay in friendships or relationships with people that are abusing you. Okay, so now that I made that very clear, let's talk about toxic friends. I think there's a big trend online, honestly in life generally in our culture where people are really quick to say, oh, you know, hey, if they're annoying you or if they did something wrong to you, just cut them out, you know, they're not worth your time, just cut them out of your life. And at the beginning, honestly, in seeing this trend, I'm like, yeah, that makes sense. Like if somebody's, you know, if somebody did something wrong to you, you know, you don't need to spend any more time with them than you have to or if you just don't like somebody or somebody just does weird things that you don't think are that great, then you're just like, cut them out, toxic friends. Or if somebody just has a bad attitude, you're like, I don't need to be around them, cut them out. And that was my opinion for quite a while. I was really quick to tell people, yeah, you know, if they're not treating you right, if they're not being nice to you or all that kind of thing, just cut them out no reason to spend any more time with them than you have to. But over the last year, I've been thinking, I've been kind of convicted about this because before, like I said, I was really quick to just say, hey, you know, I don't need this person in my life. I'll only keep the people that I like in my life and spend time with people that I like and, you know, are good to me. I think there's a real disconnect between our call as disciples to love everyone as Christ loved us and this desire to cut toxic, quote, unquote, people out of our life. Let me be clear again in terms of what I mean by toxic in this context. It's not abusive because abusive, as I'm saying, get out, right, get out. But this kind of toxic that I don't know, I feel like high schoolers and just young adults talk about is more just like, I don't like their vibe, you know? Like it's so, and for me, I just think there's a disconnect between how we're called to love people even though, even when we dislike them. We can't do that if we're just cutting every single person that we don't like their vibe out of our life. Even this idea of patient love, steadfast love, faithful love, we can't demonstrate any of those qualities that God has shown us and his love for us to other people. If we're just quick like, oh, they, you know, they did something wrong or we don't like their vibe or whatever and we just cut them out. It gives no room for grace. It gives no room for letting people grow and helping people to grow more into the image of Christ. It's really just a grace-less type of way-approaching relationships which I don't think is biblical because something happens when we begin to spend time with people that we wouldn't necessarily choose to hang out with. We grow in grace. We grow in love. It's easy to love people that you've like hand-picked and hand-selected because they're the acceptable ones because they never say anything that may hurt you or they may never do anything that you dislike. They're really just, you know, they're really just catered to what you like and it's safe and it's comfortable. You never grow in love. If you're going to reach out and spend time with the people that are quote-unquote toxic, not in an abusive way, but in a more, I would say, subjective way, some people are tough to love but that's God's calling for us. And I'm not saying it's easy. Believe me, as I said, I'm terrible at this. I'm really like, I used to give terrible advice in terms of just like, hey, you know, cut these people out of your life. You don't need to spend time with them if they don't make you feel good or whatever. But that's not biblical, right? People are gonna say things that hurt your feelings. People are gonna say things that are mean and they're gonna do things that are bad. But that doesn't mean you just give up on those people. That doesn't mean that you just like leave those people in the dust that you cut them out because they're quote-unquote toxic. That's a complete abandonment of God's grace, right? He has shown us so much grace. Like if you even think about it, how many times have you went off course? Have you rebelled against God? Could you imagine if Jesus cut off toxic people from his life, there wouldn't be a disciple left. Like if he was like, if he only had wanted people around him that were only uplifting and never did anything that didn't roll with his vibe. No disciple would be left. No believer would be left. We would be left without hope. But it's because of his grace that he didn't just cut us all out. No, he embraced us with all of our sin and selfishness. Before we go, I wanna share some tips as you're seeking to, okay, not cut out toxic people. How can you love them well? Here's a couple tips. First is a quote here from one of my favorite authors, John Townsend. Dr. John Townsend. He says, love is much more than good feelings or intentions. It is direction, movement, and purpose. So be purposeful. It's okay to put in more effort than the other person. In our culture, we're told that actually, we wanna get up the top of the power dynamic. So we're the one who responds late and we're the one who doesn't make plans and waits for the other person to make plans because that gives us more power. But our goal is not to gain more power within the relational dynamic. It is to love people well. So put in effort. Be curious. Asking questions is the gateway to connection. I've learned that questions like how are things? When you ask that question, it often leaves a wiggle room for people to stay at the surface level. Asking the question, how are you, is great. But give them a couple extra seconds after they finish responding before you jump in. By doing this, you allow them to build up the courage to share something deeper. Allow them that couple extra seconds before you respond and see if they have something else to add that they may have been holding back. Some biblical wisdom here from Proverbs 18, 13. It says, if one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame. Give them a couple extra seconds before you respond. Don't jump in, don't cut them off, just listen. Loving people is not a science, but it is our calling. Don't just cut people out of your life because they don't fit your vibe because they once did something that hurts your feelings. I know it's tough. I know it's tough, but our calling is to love. Our calling is to love people as God has loved us. And God hasn't cut us out of his life, thankfully. So let's embrace people that are tough and ask God for the grace to love them well. Thank you so much for watching, guys. I hope you enjoyed this video. If you did, give it a like down below and subscribe because I'm putting out new videos all the time. Let me know what your thoughts are in the comments down below and I will see you next time. God bless.