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Galatians 5:15 · World English Bible

Galatians 5:15 Meaning But If You Bite and Devour One

But if you bite and devour one another, be careful that you don’t consume one another.

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What does Galatians 5:15 mean?

Resentment aimed at another never stays out there. It circles back through the nervous system and settles into the picture a person carries of himself, so the one who bites is slowly eaten from the inside.

From the Cybernetics reading below.

Galatians 5:15 through 1 lens

The same verse, read by one tradition.

CYBERNETICS

Cybernetics

Resentment aimed at another never stays out there. It circles back through the nervous system and settles into the picture a person carries of himself, so the one who bites is slowly eaten from the inside. A mind kept busy tearing at others has no energy left for the target it was built to reach. The success mechanism stalls when it is fed a steady diet of grievance.

A man locked in that struggle wears down the very self he is trying to defend. Hostility scars the one who holds it long before it touches anyone else. When the fighting stops, that drained energy comes home and goes back to work on a life worth building.

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Cybernetics lens

Live Galatians 5:15 today

  1. There is a reply you have been composing in your head for days. Let it go, and give that hour to something you actually want to build.
  2. In the group chat where someone keeps getting picked apart, say nothing cutting. Say one ordinary kind thing, or say nothing at all.
  3. When a coworker takes a shot at you in front of others, answer the point and leave the person alone. You will be the one who keeps their energy that afternoon.

Who are you still fighting in your head, and what is that costing you?

The same truth in other traditions

Buddhism

Holding anger is like picking up a hot coal to throw at someone. Your hand burns first, and usually only your hand.

Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius

The best revenge is to refuse to become like the person who wronged you. Keeping the grudge is agreeing to be shaped by them.

Tao Te Ching

The sage does not contend, so there is nothing to wear him down. Strength drained in struggle is strength gone from the work.

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