The people closest to you will hands down be your greatest spiritual asset or your worst spiritual curse. Those you spend the most time with can propel you closerto God, serving him faithfully and pleasing him in all you do. Or toxic tag-alongs (sounds like some kind of spoiled Girl Scout cookie) can corrupt your good intentions and rob you of the blessings God wants to pour out on you. After you’ve swum in their poisonous presence, they leave you sitting in a puddle of sewage, nursing a corroded soul. –Soul Detox by Craig Groeshel
I Corinthians 15:33 (NIV)
Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”
2 Timothy 2:16-17a (NIV)
Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. Their teaching will spread like gangrene.
Three Types of Toxic People
1. Chronic Critics
2. The Controller
3. The Tempter
The riffraff among the people had a craving and soon they had the People of Israel whining, “Why can’t we have meat? We ate fish in Egypt – and got it free! – to say nothing of the cucumbers and melons, the leeks and onions and garlic. But nothing tastes good out here; all we get is manna, manna, manna.” Numbers 11:4-6 (The Message)