but if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. [galatians 5:15]

 

you are what you eat. it’s a phrase we’re all familiar with. a caution to be aware of what you consume because what you consume will come out of you in so many ways. the galatians were getting so caught up in the weeds of who was right and who was wrong that this rivalry between sides was consuming them. tearing up community. destroying unity. distracting from the mission. bringing down the name and glory of Christ.

 

but they are not unique to this tendency to devour the wrong things. we have the world at our fingertips. every pleasure known to man, we have access to. because of this, it is so crucial to be regularly evaluating what we are consuming. we can ask ourselves…

am i consuming worldly pleasure? this might look like time and energy and money spent on shopping online, physical fitness, me time, television, beauty, food. of course, none of these things are inherently evil, but the amount of time, energy, and money spent chasing them is telling of how highly we regard them. so easily chasing something less satisfying than the presence of God. and if that is what we consume, that is what will consume us. 

do not love the world or the things in the world. if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. for all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. and the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. [1 john 2:15-17]

 

am i consuming self-righteousness before men? this might look like complaining about other people or groups of people, quickly defending your own honor, always giving advice but rarely taking it, making sure your children represent you well or demanding their obedience for your own convenience, compromising at work so that your superiors see and honor you, allowing kids’ activities or your own to prevent building into the body of Christ, even just a lack of true confession of your hidden sinfulness. we can so easily fall into desiring to be desired by man, to be approved of by man, that we forget the unconditional approval of God won for us by the blood of Christ.

nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God. [john 12:42-43]

 

or am i consuming the presence of God? with all my heart? we know what this looks like. it looks like time in his Word, time in prayer, time in singing to him, confessing to him, pleading for him to move in your own heart and the hearts of others. it looks like evaluating your own desires and asking him to place himself above all the rest. asking to see his beauty as glorious as it is. asking to know his heart each day more deeply than the day before. asking for the Spirit to fill you that you might overflow with joy to anyone he puts in your path. to seek justice. to love mercy. and to walk humbly with him. every day.

on the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, ‘out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” [john 7:37-38]

 

come to Jesus and drink deeply of his presence. he will consume you and fill you with the Spirit, who will flow out from you to a world who needs and longs to see his love, his glory, and his presence.

 

~ arwen eastman