Forgive Those Who Offend You - Saturday February 20, 2016
God has sent me ahead of you to keep you and your families alive and to preserve many survivors. So it was God who sent me here, not you! And he is the one who made me an adviser to Pharaoh – the manager of his entire palace and the governor of all Egypt. Genesis 45:7-8 NLT
C.S. Lewis writes in Mere Christianity, "Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive. And then to mention the subject at all is to be greeted with howls and anger."
We need to not just know a lot about forgiveness – we need to do it. We must choose to forgive. Joseph was a man who overcame evil with good. He certainly had the right to be bitter. He had the right to be angry. He had the right to hate his brothers back. He lost 13 years of his life! But he made a very important choice. He chose to forgive his brothers.
Who in your life do you need to forgive? Joseph wrestled with this forgiveness issue for a long time, I'm sure, and he chose to forgive. You may need to wrestle with God about this for a long time. But I want to ask you to make a choice and choose to forgive and follow the way of Jesus Christ.
At the end of Joseph's life, Joseph had made these choices, and, as a result, he changed his world.
Here's my definition of a hero from the life of Joseph: A person who daily chooses to live coram Deo (in the presence of God), with God's bigger "yes" directing him or her on the inside, while maintaining a clear conscience before God and man.
Joseph changed his world, and you and I can change ours as well.
Submitted by:
Doug Brown
Faithwalkers East 2014
Joseph: Heroism in the Moral Choices,
One-Year Reading Plan:
Leviticus 9:7-10:20
Mark 4:26-5:20
Psalms 37:30-40
Proverbs 10:6-7
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