How toxic are we?

We have poison in our soul. That's not a pleasant thought but the truth is everywhere for us to see.
Poison in our soul pours out when we speak:

• in angry words
• in malicious conversation
• in scorn
• in laughter at others' expense
• in little white lies (big lies too)

It's in our attitude:

• a cold shoulder
• non-chalance
• non-caring
• bitterness
• spite

Poison in our soul dictates our actions. It colors our perceptions and clouds our thinking.

And yet we hold our poison close, like a prized possession that gains a stronger foothold in our life like the Ring in the Lord of the Rings. And all the while it destroys us - our relationships, our peace of mind, our contentment and our self. We become dry when we long for refreshment. We want to be loved but we can't reach out. We're lonely but we pretend to be too busy and fulfilled to have time for people. We want peace and we fight so hard for it but then wonder why it eludes us. We need purpose but can't discover it. We want to be happy but find ourselves with all kinds of different addictions for momentary fragments of ...something; a rush that can't last. We say one thing and mean something else entirely and just wish that someone could understand us despite ourselves.

Evolution may try to promise us wings one day, but it has no answer for the poison in our soul. But our Creator know about it. He became human Himself in and lived an unpoisoned life among us but our poison killed him. We hated Him for pointing out our poison by living a perfect life. We rejected Him because we feared and hated Him. He knew us and we didn't like what He saw in us. He loved us and we couldn't accept it.

But His death became our hope; our antidote. Our Creator wants to claim us as His people and rid our souls of the poison; a lifetime of detoxification. He promises to plant trees in the barren wasteland of our soul. Without poison, those trees will flourish and our lives can become a garden of beauty:

• love
• joy
• peace
• gentleness
• long-suffering
• patience
• kindness
• meekness

Beauty from ugliness. It's the reason we love fairy tales; our hearts are drawn to the possibilities and the hope of a 'happily ever after'.

We all have poison in our souls. Call it the human disease; call it sin; call it the harsh reality.

But don't hang unto it. Whatever you do, don't hang onto it.

Seek the only One who doesn't offer promises that can only be empty without first offering a cure. Seek God. And you will find Him. And the blessings are beyond anything we can even begin to imagine.