biting and devouring

Galatians 5:13-15 “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.”

I’m struck by what an appropriate description this is of our time. Biting and devouring each other is exactly what we do.

We snap at each other over education policy, and tax policy, and environmental policy, as if by defeating each other’s arguments we can actually influence those policies. We look down our noses at anyone not like us, those people with not enough education or too much, not enough money or too much, too much tolerance or not enough. And we seem to revel in our hostile impulses, willing to demean anyone not of our tribe if it will gain us accolades from our tribe.

Are we in danger of being destroyed by one another? Paul thinks so. But he shows us a better way: serving one another humbly in love.

Can we do that? Can we lovingly serve people who hold different politics, have different moral beliefs, different skin color, different social status? Can we love them as we love ourselves?

Of course we can. We’re Christians, and it’s what Jesus calls us to. And we know from experience that anything he calls us to he will equip us for. The only thing holding us back is ourselves. But to choose biting and devouring truly would a strange use of this freedom that grace has given us.