Jill had always been head over heels in love with Steven. They had been together for a little while now, and things were going great between them. Steven was the perfect boyfriend – he was loving, caring, and always put her needs first. However, Steven had a dark side to his character.
Steven had a habit of lying, cheating, and stealing from others. He had been doing it for years and had become an expert at it. He had no qualms about taking advantage of people and leaving them high and dry. But when it came to Jill, he was a completely different person. He treated her with the utmost love and respect and would never dream of doing anything to hurt her.
Jill knew about Steven’s true toxic nature towards others but believed that he was a genuinely good person. She never suspected that he could be capable of such deceit and betrayal to her. Despite her suspicions, Jill always gave Steven the benefit of the doubt. She loved him too much to believe that he could be capable of anything so terrible toward her. Jill, in fact, has a toxic relationship set to explode.
The question for Jill is – could Steven’s poor character, though never seemingly directed at her today, ever become a problem eventually tomorrow?
This story is about a romantic relationship – perhaps you also have a relationship like this or simply a friend that does similar things. Or maybe you have a business colleague that seems to work well with you but acts poorly to others. The point here is that people that have poor character will become toxic toward you in time regardless that, at the moment, the poor character is not currently directed at you. Are we ignoring the “red flags” in our own relationships?
As part of a Sunday Thoughts series, there are some Biblical admonishments one can consider, regardless of your religious beliefs. Consider this same toxic relationship principle described in Matthew 25:40.
“Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.”
The truth is many relationships in our life may not last forever, and that includes friends. A friend that may have added to our life, or has been fun, or been put in our life because of life circumstances, may not always be the healthiest now. Many unhealthy friendships may exist in your life that you may be unaware of, so it’s important to recognize the signs of toxic and unhealthy friendships in your life.
The toxic people or toxic friends in your life may be having a bigger impact on your well-being than you may realize, so it’s important to understand when a friendship or relationship is toxic or unhealthy and when you may need to end a friendship – this could be a best friend, a colleague, a family friend or any type of friend. See ten signs of a toxic friendship in the video below and four ways to handle these types of situations.
How about you? Do you have an unknowing toxic relationship that may one day explode, even though right now the friend treats you correctly? Give us your take on how you handle a potentially toxic relationship in your life in the comment section below.
By Tom Williams
