What to do When Bitten by a Brother

The Flesh and the Spirit – Part II

Have you ever met a teething toddler who wanted to bite everything ……………. and everybody, including their brothers and sisters?

I have observed the wisdom of some smart Moms who seemed to know the way to resolve this issue.

“Mommy, J.J. just bit me!”

“Well, if he bites you again, just bite him back.”

I have also seen some pretty ugly teeth marks on the arms of little children.

Little J.J. seems to learn pretty fast that biting his siblings will not be positively reinforced. While it’s really hard to argue with success, such wisdom might be questionable. And this doesn’t work in the body of Christ. Biting each other only seems to make people get angry and run away. If they do bite back, this usually starts an endless cycle of animosity within the body of Christ. If they don’t bite you publicly, they will engage in backbiting.

“But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another” (Galatians 5.15). The biting mentality will not only cause us to eat up our brothers and sisters, but we also will get eaten up in the same process – “dog eat dog.”

A biting, devouring mentality among believers is used by the Apostle Paul as a showcase for fleshly behavior. What does “fleshly” mean? It means, doing things “my way” (sorry, Frank Sinatra). The flesh is that nature in us all which wants to do that which is best for self regardless of how it affects God’s revealed will or other people. It will always go contrary to the leading of God’s Holy Spirit. Biting and devouring is a prime example of the flesh's modus operandi. If you are biting or even biting back, that is a sure sign that you’re working on the basis of the flesh.

“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.” (Galatians 5.17).

This is why it’s so important for us to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Without that filling of the Spirit, we will continue to bite and devour. To overcome fleshly lusts, we must be filled with the Spirit and walk in him. If you are a Christian believer, he is working in you at this very moment to fill you, produce his ways in you and bring you under his gentle control.

Ask God now for his filling and watch for what he is going to produce in you. be sensitive to his tender nudge. We know for sure that it won’t be to bite someone.