Spiritual Cannibalism

 

But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.  (Galatians 5:15)
    

       Some people have the idea that all of nature lives in peace. The opposite is often true. Predators constantly hunt something to devour. Prey animals live a life of nervous alert, always waiting for the pounce of their enemy. For them, tension is a constant companion. Hunting predators rest only briefly when their bellies are full. The prey species seem to never find rest, always on alert so that they will not be consumed. If you live in an environment where you have to always be alert for the biters and the devourers, (even at church) it  may be difficult to live in God's peace. 

 

     In his commentary on Galatians David Guzik wrote -- Bite and devour one another sounds like a pack of wild animals! That's how the church can act when it is using its "liberty" as a platform to promote their own selfishness. If you want to see some fireworks, put two selfish people together. Selfish people will eventually be consumed by one another.

        Momentary peace in the wild (or among us) can be changed in an instant when a predator arrives looking for something to devour. We can quickly be reduced to predator/prey behavior if one among us turns to predation. What could inspire such behavior in the church? Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8) The great predator of humanity, Satan, is continuously hunting. He imagines the ticking of God’s eternal clock and knows his end time is always nearer, so he hunts relentlessly. He is willing to eat one at a time, but prefers to start a feeding frenzy among us. In Daniel’s imagery — In his place a despicable person will arise, on whom the honor of kingship has not been conferred, but he will come in a time of tranquility and seize the kingdom by intrigue. (Daniel 11:21) Satan seizes us by intrigue, attempting to draw our focus from God to humanity where fault can be easily found.

        Since our beginnings we have been troubled by our hunger for what we shouldn’t devour. In the garden God told Adam — but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die. (Genesis 2:17) But our father, Adam, ate and released in us an appetite for sin that enables that same scheming serpent to lead us to spiritual cannibalism. This isn’t a new problem. The Psalmist wrote — Have the workers of wickedness no knowledge, Who eat up My people as though they ate bread And have not called upon God? (Psalm 53:8)

 

 

       Who is on your plate? Who do you want to devour? Who has Satan drawn your focus to in a spirit of division? Who is the target of your spiritual cannibalism? Are you planning a revenge feast? Have you been bitten and decided to bite back, initiating a spiritual feeding frenzy? Successful diets often simply teach us to replace what we shouldn’t eat but  love with something less fattening that keeps us happily chewing. Eating doesn’t cause weight gain, eating the wrong things does. In Ezekiel’s encounter with God we read— So I opened my mouth, and He fed me this scroll. He said to me, “Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your body with this scroll which I am giving you.” Then I ate it, and it was sweet as honey in my mouth. Then He said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them. (Ezekiel 3:24) 

 

Don’t be a spiritual predator or engage in spiritual cannibalism. Instead, feed on forgiveness. Feed on the Word. Eat the scroll, and feed God’s Word to His people.

 

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