Divine Restraint

May 1, 2019

Divine Restraint

“Put away your sword,” Jesus told him. “Those who use the sword will die by the sword. Don’t you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly?

Matthew 26:52-53

When I read today’s passage, which is from Matthew’s account of Jesus’ arrest in the Garden, I immediately remember John 3:17, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” Jesus exercised restraint in the Garden because divine restraint is an essential characteristic of God’s mission for His Messiah.

It seems as restraint is all but gone within the world’s cultures, including the church. Consider:

Recently a pastor wrote, “As a lifestyle, polyamory is becoming more mainstream and it is clearly now part of the growing (church) vocabulary.” (Polyamory is the practice of, or desire for, intimate relationships with more than one partner, with the consent of all partners involved.)

Washington Post columnist George Will wrote on May 4, 2012, that an article published in the British Journal of Medical Ethics asserts, “that “after-birth abortions” — killing newborn babies — are matters of moral indifference because newborns, like fetuses, “do not have the same moral status as actual persons” and “the fact that both are potential persons is morally irrelevant.” With boisterous cheers, this position has recently been codified into law in several US States.

The hallmark of the US Constitution is restraint against unlimited power of the central government. However, many of the current contenders for US President are supporting eliminating one of the cornerstones of restraint in the Constitution, the Electoral College.

My Takeaway:   “Vice does not lose its character by becoming fashionable.”

― John Wesley

Sē’lah

Alex

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.