For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.
Galatians 5:14-15
The other day, I watched a segment on the news that showed two alligators in a wrestling match on a golf course. Now, I’m pretty sure I would never get close enough to film the action, but some brave soul got close enough to catch what was going on. An alligator’s bite is 2125 pounds per square inch. That’s enough for the alligator to bite through steel and most anything else they want to bite. The moral of the news story was to stay away from fighting gators. The interesting thing about the clip was that both gators were biting and wrestling with each other. As a result, both experienced injury as a result of the attack.
I imagine the fight started because one of the gators kicked his golf ball out of the sand, and the other caught him — just a guess.
So what does this have to do with anything? Well, I’m not fond of gators at all, but it is an excellent picture of what we sometimes do to one another.
Don’t Bite One Another
The Apostle Paul is using words to describe wild animals as they fight. These are vicious activities that cause great destruction. There was something significant going on in Galatia, and Paul was addressing it the best way he knew. He was not only concerned for their unity but also their love for one another, as shown in verse 14.
One of the things I learned from keeping the nursery at church is that sometimes when children reach a certain age, they will bite other children. Sometimes they even bite the adults who help. One Sunday, a child bit me several times. I thought I was in Jurassic Park! At that point, as an adult worker, I was left with a couple of options. I can bite the child back and show them how much it hurts, or I can try and stop that behavior by providing discipline.
Sometimes, that’s a tough choice. lol.
But honestly, when one child bites another child and then the other child bites back, you have a situation where both children are now crying uncontrollably for the next hour while waiting for the pastor to finish up his hour-long message. This torturous hour is why people quit caring for children in the nursery…
Paul says, don’t do it. Don’t bite one another. Instead, care for one another. Love one another.
Don’t Devour One another
The word Paul uses for devouring is to consume or utterly ruin. Picture the two alligators. They are trying to ruin each other. Tear off a leg. Go for the throat. Render him unable to walk straight.
But it is honestly about our attitude towards others. In a day where there is so much disagreement on politics and medical issues, our actions reflect our attitudes. Please don’t let your passionate conviction about something cause you to try to ruin someone else and tear off their leg or have them for dinner!
Only God can produce the kind of unconditional love towards others that we need to display. Watch out that you don’t consume one another.
Consume means to destroy and is a very harsh word that reflects an attitude of indifference and general hate towards another person. Paul says to be watchful or vigilant about this kind of attitude and behavior. This general hate towards another person means that you choose to do things to another person to destroy them.
If you notice the progression, it begins with a bite, then a tearing apart, and finally, destruction. If we are not careful, our relationships will turn out like this time after time. You experience some disagreement over something that you feel is important, and the biting, consuming, and destruction begin.
It becomes a toxic habit in your life, and you eventually have no close friends because you’ve destroyed every relationship you’ve had.
Love your neighbors
It is worth asking the question this morning…
How do you look at others? Do you look at others as pawns in a chess match that you manipulate into believing the way you believe? Do you listen intently and try to learn from others? Do you love others as much as you love yourself? Paul is very serious. He prefaces the fighting words with words of love and admiration for others. Love for others is no springboard for the rest of this letter to the Galatian church. The love Paul addresses in verse 14 is the foundation for the rest of the instruction Paul is giving to them. If you read the rest of chapter 5 and 6, you will see what I mean.
The love we have for others is the foundation for everything we do.
So I leave you with this. Do you love, or do you wrestle, fight, bite, consume, and destroy? We can’t love others the way God desires us to love them until we first love God. Our love for Him shapes our love for others.