Constraining Self

Genesis 43:32 And they set on for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians, which did eat with him, by themselves: because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews; for that is an abomination unto the Egyptians.

It is a difficult thing to constrain yourself over issues at times. If we care deeply about injustice, if we feel that someone is being slighted, our natural instinct is to expose the wrong and make it right.

There are always two sides to every issue. We want to take sides. One has to be right or at least better than the other. Can you consider this first when confronted with your view of any difficult situation?

God loves them all.

The larger issue is not to choose sides and fight for right, it is to win both sides to God.

There are people in this world who have strong deep rooted emotions that are not just generational, they are life as they know it. They haven’t been allowed to see any other way. Throwing truth at them like a blinding light does not cause them to see, it causes them to close their eyes.

The preparatory work of the Holy Spirit is in finding cracks in the rocky heart and drip, drip, drip away as an erosive force to break the heart of stone. It is a slow and patient process. That can only been done by that Spirit which is in us and causes us to look beyond the situation and constrain our natural instincts.

Matthew 9:10 And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples.

Jesus knew how to break bread together and the Holy Spirit will show us how to be like that also.

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