Welcome to Day 162 of the “Manna for the Mind” devotional! This series is about finding nourishment in the Word of God to get us through the day. In each devotional, I take a variety of scripture passages (typically 1-3 verses each) and build our understanding of what they teach via their context and connecting scripture. My goal is to help you understand how to be the type of human God created you to be. Today’s passage is Galatians 5:14-15.

Galatians 5:14-15

NASB	NLT	VOICE
14 For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”	14 For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”	14 For the whole law comes down to this one instruction: “Love your neighbor as yourself,” so
15 But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.	15 But if you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another.	15 why all this vicious gnawing on each other? If you are not careful, you will find you’ve eaten each other alive!

When believers lose the motivation to love one another. We become critical instead. We become hypersensitive to their actions. We become judgmental to them, both condemning what they are doing and assuming that their actions are a slight to us. We stop looking for the good int hem and see only their faults, regardless of severity. We now see them, but we call them out and gossip about them to all who will listen.

Remind yourself of Jesus’ command to love as you love you, but further. Love others as Jesus loved you. Love others in a way that allows a self-sacrificing, compassionate, dedicated mindset to meet the needs of others. When you want to fight someone, argue with someone, gossip about someone, bully someone, stop. Stop right in that moment before you act and pause. Take a massively deep breath. Reflect. Why am I doing this? Would this be helpful in this moment? Would this be hurtful at all? Often times we’ll backbite in an emotional response, but if we take the time to pause and reflect, we’ll find that spreading toxicity about someone will not be beneficial in the long run. Think about the person that you’re arguing with. Think about the human. Think about the positive qualities of that human. A momentary lapse in judgment doesn’t not make them a bad person overall. We often don’t know what’s going on in a person’s life, and their moment of toxicity might be a response of a negative situation going on in their life.

When we’re struggling with someone, see if we can talk to them about it. If we can’t talk, maybe write a letter back and forth or text. Allow yourself a time to talk to someone and ask them what’s going on. Connect with that person. Learn about that person. Work towards mutual compassion, love, and respect.

Next slice of Manna: Manna for the Mind #163