“If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.” –Galatians 5:15
When I was working as an oncology nurse in the Bay Area, one of the physicians at the hospital had a reputation for being gruff. Nurses were a bit afraid to call and report a change in a patient’s condition because he responded abruptly. Those of us who got to know him over time understood that underneath his rough exterior was a heart of gold. He cared deeply for his patients and was terribly distressed when they weren’t doing well.
We sometimes used the familiar explanation about him when talking to new nurses, “His bark is worse than his bite.”
But the bark is not always worse. I have a dear friend who recently got a new puppy. As puppies tend to do, he loves to chew on anything close by. Unfortunately, the closest thing is often my friend’s forearm and she has hundreds of scars to prove it. This puppy has a bite that is damaging!
Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, was concerned about the way the church members were treating each other. The church was composed of largely of two groups — Jewish and Gentile converts — and they came from vastly different backgrounds. Divisions sometimes arose between them that caused friction and conflict. Paul chose his words carefully; he admonished them not to bite each other.
In other words, he wanted to make sure they weren’t doing anything to cause pain or to sting one another. Then he continued, warning them not to devour each other. The word devour is often used to describe the way wild beasts fight to the death. Paul knew that the quickest way to destroy the spirituality of the church would be to fan the flames of contention.
In an organization as large as Loma Linda University Health, there are diverse opinions and philosophies. You could likely talk to people in the same department and hear vastly different ideas. But the manner in which we disagree must be in a spirit of love. We can show respect for the person with whom we disagree without deriding them as an individual. We can demonstrate tact, kindness and compassion, even when our opinions differ.
In volume four of Testimonies to the Church, Seventh-day Adventist Church co-founder Ellen White writes, “When Christ is in the heart, it will be so softened and subdued by love for God and man that fretting, faultfinding and contention will not exist there” (pg. 610).
It is our daily connection with Jesus that will enable us to love and respect each other, especially when we disagree.
When this is true, we will not have to worry about the bark or the bite. This is my prayer.
—Kathy McMillan is director of Employee Spiritual Care at Loma Linda University Medical Center.