OUR DAILY BREAD : THE MIRACLE OF RESTRAINT

[cimi]

March 4
Tuesday


THE MIRACLE
OF RESTRAINT

READ:
Luke 4:1-13
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We love Him because
He first loved us.
__1 John 4:19
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In Dostoevsky's novel The Brothers Karamazov, Ivan Karamazov refers to "the miralce of restraint" __God's choice to curb His own power. The more I get to know Jesus, the more that observation impresses me.

The miracles Satan suggested to Jesus (Luke 4:3,9-11), the signs the Pharisees demanded (Matt. 12:38;16:1), the final proofs I yearn for offer no obstacle to an omnipotent God. More amazing is His refusal to perform, to overwhelm. God's terrible insistence on human freedom is no absolute that He granted us the power to live as though He does not exist. Jesus must have known this as He faced the tempter in the desert, focusing His power on the energy of restraint.

I believe God insists on such restraint because no pyrotechnic displays of omnipotence will achieve the response He disires. Only love can summon a response of love. "I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself," Jesus said (John 12:32). He said this to show the kind of death He would die. God's nature is self-giving.

Why does God content Himself with the slow, mysterious way of making righteousness grow rather than avenging it? That's how love is. Love has its own power--the only power capable of conquering the human heart. __Philp Yancey
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````````````That leaden night on which He was betrayed,````````````
`````````````The One by whom the universe was made`````````````
````````Reclined with friends, took bread and stretched a hand````````
```````Of love to him who His demise had planned. __Gustafson```````
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Revenge restrained is a victory gained.

**************Today's Bible Reading __ Luke 4:1-13****************

1 Then Jesus, being filled
with the Holy Spirit...was
led by the Spirit into the
wildnerness, 2 being tempted
for forty days by the
devil....

3 And the devil said to Him,
"If You are the Son of God,
command this stone to
become bread."

4 But Jesus answered him,
saying, "It is written, 'Man
shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word of God.' "

5 Then the devil, taking Him
up on a high mountain,
showed Him all the
kingdoms of the world in a
moment of time. 6 and the
devil said to Him, "All this
authority I will give You, and
their glory; for this has been
delivered to me, and I give it
to whomever I wish. 7 There-
fore, if you will worship
before me, all will be Yours."

8 and Jesus answered and
said to him, "Get behind Me,
Satan! For it is written, 'You
shall worship the LORD your
God, and Him only you shall
serve.' "

9 Then he brought Him to
Jerusalem, set Him on the
pinnacle of the temple, and
said to Him, "If You are the
Son of God, throw Yourself
down from here. 10 For it is
written: "He shall give His
angels charge over you, to
keep you,' 11 and, 'In their
hands they shall bear you up,
lest you dash your foot
against a stone.' "

12 And Jesus answered and
said to him, "It has been said,
'You shall not tempt the
LORD your God.' " 13 Now
when the devil had ended
every temptation, he departed
from Him until an opportune
time.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

I Luke 4, Satan is referred to as "the devil" (VV.2,3,5,6. 13).
The word devil is the Greek term diabolos, which means "prone to
slander, accusing falsely." No wonder Satan is called the "accuser of
our brethren" in Revelation 12:10. __WEC