Friday, October 02, 2009
What have you done with your life?
I was just going through a stack of papers in my work bag and came across a church program from June 14, 2009. On it, I had jotted down a brief story that one of the speakers shared since I felt it offered an important perspective on life. I won't get it totally right here but you'll get the message. In her talk, the speaker told the story of a woman who had had a number of hardships in her life ("bad" parents, many challenges, etc). After she died, she went before Christ and He asked her "what have you done with your life?" She got really aggravated with the question and pointed to all the hardships and obstacles from her life. Then Christ clarified, "what have you done with your life with what you've been given?" And she understood.
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Your most recent blog post on what have you done with your life interestingly coincided with something I read this morning regarding the biblical Joseph in the old testament. It piqued my interest immediately because I so admire this Joseph.
Here is a summary:
Joseph kept his focus on God. Despite everything he trusted and remained obedient. And for what purpose? When the time was just perfectly right, the Lord allowed Joseph to interpret some very important dreams for Pharoah. This ended up saving both Egypt and Joseph's entire family. And just as God had promised long before this, Joseph became a great ruler. Joseph was dragged from a pit his own brothers put him in out of jealousy, was taken to Egypt as a slave, in a place with a language and culture that were completely foreign to him. He was not in charge of his situation in any way. Full of hurt, seperated from his loved ones, and unable to express what had happened to him, Joseph was in a terrible mess. But he kept his eyes on the Lord and continued to trust in Him. This trust was so evident even to Potiphar the man who bought him in Genesis 39:3-4 tells us, "His master saw that the Lord was with him and how the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hand. So Joseph found favor in his sight and became his personal servant; and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he owned he put in his charge." Then Joseph's handsome face and body enraptured Potiphar's wife and he was wrongly accused of trying to molest her which landed him in jail. He was totally innocent. Joseph could have been totally bitter about this situation but instead he focused on the Lord. And God blessed him for it. Genesis 39:21 explains, "The Lord was with Joseph and extended kindess to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the chief justice." And, if Joseph did not have complete trust in the vision God gave him to repeat his life would have been ended by the ruler. Instead the ending was far different and his life impacted generations to come.
Joseph did absolutely incredible things with what he had been given but more importantly with what was taken from him unjustly.
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