"There's one piece of pie left, who wants it?"  How many times as a kid, or even as adult, have you heard that type of question?  As a child, our minds always would rationalize why we deserved the last piece, such as our certainty that our sibling has had more of the pie, etc. But as mature, godly adults we would would never think that way, right?!?

In Genesis 13 we read the familiar story of the tension and strife that arose between Abraham's and Lot's herders. We read of Abrahams' solution in verses 8-9 where he told Lot, “Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren. Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left.”  In the end, Abraham let Lot choose where he wanted to keep his livestock with a willingness to take whatever area Lot didn't want.

Most readers are probably aware that Lot chose the best land for his livestock but an area that also brought him right up to the wicked city of Sodom, a city that he eventually moved into.  As a result, the leftover area for Abraham was not as idea for his livestock but we know God's hand of blessing was certainly upon him while Lot "vexed his right soul" because of the sin in Sodom.  As someone has said, "Lot chose the best but Abraham chose the better."

The principle that we can learn from this passage is a willingness on our parts to yield to others.  Certainly in Bible times and even today, Abraham had every right to take the better land for his livestock.  He was the uncle, the elder; but he let Lot have the inferior land.  Yet Abraham was willing to yield his "right" to Lot.  And so it is for us today, how willing are we to yield something better to someone else if it means keeping the peace, or even just exhibiting a Christ-like spirit and attitude?  Am I willing to accept a position or something material that is inferior to someone else or do I always demand my "rights?"  May God help us to have an attitude like Abraham.