file: /pub/resources/text/Our.Daily.Bread: db941118.txt
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OUR DAILY BREAD                   Friday, November 18, 1994
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READ:  Galatians 5:13-26

                      "CANNIBALISM"

          "If you bite and devour one another,
        beware lest you be consumed by one another."

                    - Galatians 5:15

A number of years ago, I had a night out with my 4-year-old
son.  Halfway through our hamburgers, I detected rumblings
in the booth behind me.  The muffled anger in a man's voice
soon erupted in a snarl, "What did you say?"  A woman shot
back, "I said I'd never come crawling to you.  I couldn't
get that low."  I cringed as he cursed at her and said,
"I don't know why I ever brought you to this restaurant
tonight."  "I do," she said.  "You've got a guilty con-
science!"

Ben was staring over my shoulder, so I  asked him what
he was thinking about.  "Oh, I'm thinking about Jesus,"
he said, "and how He died for our sins."

Ben's response left quite an impression on me.  As the
angry man and woman finished their meal by chewing up one
another, I had to admit that I too knew about anger and a
bad conscience.  Then my own child reminded me that Christ
came into this world to rescue us from our sin.

We have no excuse for falling back into the kind of
cannibalism that took place in that restaurant.  We have
been forgiven and have received a spirit of love.  And
we have the example of Jesus.  His ways are as practical
and life-changing as we're willing to let them be.

    -- Martin R. DeHaan II

 If you'd be truly happy
 And keep your peace of mind,
 Then guard yourself from hatred
 And words that are unkind.

    -Anon

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       THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
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It's better to swallow your pride
    than to eat your words.

THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Galatians 4-6

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Our Daily Bread, Copyright 1994, used by permission of
Radio Bible Class, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49555, USA.
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