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Last week a friend of mine spoke at our church on the incarnation of Jesus. Since then I have been doing some study on the subject and something that came up was idea of restraint in regards to the Incarnation. In studying this I ran across a story I thought was pretty incredible. I did not write it, I wish I had, but regardless it is pretty amazing.

“Restraint is the voluntary limitation of oneself for the benefit of someone else. The grocery store where I usually shop has a policy of hiring several employees who are intellectually limited. One particular man has been there about ten years; his job is to help people put groceries in their cars. He is hard of hearing and lacks social skills. The first time I had him put my groceries in my car, he was slow and threw the bags (eggs and all) into the trunk in disarray. I decided that from then on I would load the groceries myself.

On future shopping trips this man would offer help, and I would politely say, “No, thank you.” One day after I declined his help, he asked, “Are you sure, ma’am?” There was almost a pleading in his voice, and I realized that he was being rejected bye one customer after another. I felt the tug of God’s Spirit. I was, of course, in a hurry. It was raining – hard. But the tug came again, so I said yes. I stood in the rain, carefully made a couple of suggestions, and together we put the bags in my car.

When we finished the man asked, “Did I do a good job?” “Yes you did a good job,” I assured him. He seemed relieved. “Lots of ladies get mad at me because I don’t do so good.” I drove home weeping, asking God to teach me what this lesson was all about. This man suffers. He suffers in ways I have never experienced. He is treated with anger, disregard, annoyance, and frustration. God called me that day to restrain myself – to restrain my
quickness, my skill, my independence, my powers – in order to bestow dignity, value, and esteem on one who was suffering. As I pulled into my garage, I sensed God saying to me, Is that not a picture of my incarnation? Is that not a tiny taste of what I did for you? God of the Universe, a baby. Infinite wisdom, a little boy. Creator of the worlds, a carpenter. Master of the seas, in a boat. Eternal life, dead and buried. And I didn’t want to restrain myself for a retarded man!”

- Diane Langberg

Live Peace,
Mario