I must be aware that my life of discipleship will normally be a pull between self-expression and self-restraint. There are times when shyness is a sin and I must express myself unashamedly for His sake. On the other hand, there are times when I must exert every effort to be self-restrained, otherwise I sin.
Jesus exerted the most amazing self-restraint of all. He was “born of a woman, born under the Law” (Galatians 4:4). He restrained Himself physically by being “born of a woman.” By assuming a physical form, Jesus Christ learned for the first time what hunger, thirst, and weariness were.
He also learned what it meant to be confined to one spot at a time and to travel one step at a time. Perhaps an illustration would be for an adult to resort to crawling like a baby once again, and to live his life that way. However we look at it, the result is limitation; and in Jesus’ case the cause of it was His unfathomable love for us. He also restrained Himself morally by being “born under the Law.” The Law was given, Paul says, to make us aware of our sins (Romans 7:7). Yet Jesus Christ, who had no sin, willingly endured the irritating reminders of a sinful nature for the sake of us who break the Law repeatedly.
Deep in the heart of Jesus Christ was the willingness to be curbed, limited, and contained of rightful expressions of Himself, in order that by doing so He might save us. I must learn the “mind” of Christ and realize that if I am to “save” others, I must follow His way. The path of service is the path of self-restraint. Jesus Christ has shown me so, and thank God He will help me to do so.
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that He may teach us concerning His ways, and that we may walk in His paths” (Isaiah 2:3).
Daily with the King 