I am reminded on every hand that I must express myself, that I must be the real me that I was meant to be, that God’s gifts are to be used and not neglected. Well and good. Yet I see a strong contrast to that idea in Jesus Christ, who restrained Himself spiritually for me. What can I say of the cross on which He died, which was a necessity to Him (Matthew 3:15; Luke 12:50)? He put Himself under the restraint of His Father’s will and of our need, and both of them together bound Him so effectively that the cross was the result.
I also am bound by the Father’s will. There are many things pleasurable to me that I may not do, even those things that in themselves are ethically acceptable. I also am bound by my brother’s needs; I must go beyond the appealing ideology of socialism: “If anyone is hungry, I am hungry; if anyone is cold, I am cold; if anyone is in prison, I am not free.” I must put into practice the ideology of Jesus Christ, who is the embodiment of self-restraint for the salvation of others, not simply from economic deprivation but from spiritual bankruptcy!
What a reward awaits the self-restrained person! It was because Jesus was willing to come “into the world” that God commanded all His angels to “worship [do reverence to] Him” (Hebrews 1:6), and for that reason He has a “better” name than they. The plaudits of heaven are reserved for those who hand their lives over to others, who spend their lives “handwriting” themselves on the souls of others, and who gain nothing except cost and pain in the process. For them, heaven has the highest praise and angels sing their sweetest songs. God, make me worthy to be included!
“Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this — not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way” (Romans 14:13).
Daily with the King 