I think this is another great story of love. Love and forgiveness. What more could someone do to you than want to kill you and end up selling you as a slave! This makes me think about things people have done to me are nothing. If Joesph can forgive his brothers, how can we not forgive others?
In the story... why did it seem like Joesph called out to them right away? I know the message is about forgiveness, but his forgiveness was not really instantaneous... sometime forgiveness takes a little while.
Forgiveness is definitely the greatest, and most difficult, aspect of the Christian faith. I mentioned at Christmas that I've been trying to work on that particular area.
ReplyDeleteAgain, the Storybook does a very good job of drawing out the parallels between the stories of the Old Testament and the story of Jesus.
One of the best stories about faith and perseverance.
This brought me back to my questioning of free will vs. all-knowing. I still feel the most comfortable with my interpretation from The Shack - we have free will, and God works within our choices, and the choices of others, to put us on the right path. I kind of got the same feeling from the way that this story was written - that God worked with his brothers' actions to accomplish the end result that he wanted in the first place.
Adam ~ "I can't imagine being put in the position to need to forgive someone for an unforgivable act like selling me into slavery! Or someone shooting me...like Pope John Paul...it's just crazy."
I feel like Joseph must have had a lot of WTF moments in life. He was Rachael's first son. Coddled. Loved. Cherished. The center of the universe. Then, for some strange reason his brother's decided to sell him into slavery. He gains the trust of the household he lives in, only to be betrayed by the woman of the house cause he won't sleep with her. He finds himself in jail, only to be summoned by the Pharaoh to interpret dreams and take charge of the country's resources.
ReplyDeleteI think if that were my life story, I would have a hard time believing in the geniuneness of people and expect them to let me down or use me or what not. But I think also, there would be a longing for wholeness. For family. For what life could have been.
I think forgiveness is a means to restoration. To building the life and the relationships that is complete.
We are incapable of perfect relationship, like God, so forgiveness is necessary. I don't think it is easy. There is a humbleness that accompanies forgiving. A humbleness to let go of - I was right or you owe me something. To forgive is to release the other person from the obligation to undo or fix or live under your thumb for whatever wrong doing.
I think for me, the hardest people to forgive has been my parents. They are awesome parents and we have a great relationship. But, both of them have done and said things that took a long time for me to forgive. To let go of. I had to peel back layers at a time and I don't think they know how much work I've done on my end to restore our relationship from my teenage years. There are still times when I catch myself wanting them to know how wrong they were or how much it has taken for me to accept certain things. But I find that wholeness. Living in a restored relationship. Talking to my mom every day -- supporting her and letting her lean on me. Leaning on her when I need help. Helping my dad build his dreams for the family are worth it.
Forgiving past boyfriends so those insecurities don't mess up my marriage.
Forgiving old friends and watching them get married and have kids on Facebook. Forgiving my profession and colleagues so that I don't just have a jaded view of work.....
all are worth the hard effort of forgiveness
even if it makes me feel sometimes unvindicated or weak, Jesus, I remind myself, took on the same stance. Staying quiet as they hurled insults at him. Taunted him to use his powers....Those seemingly weak moments were actually his strongest. Through prayer we can also find that kind of strength.
Do you think you have to verbally forgive someone directly in order for it to count? I've been struggling with forgiving my father for a few years now...I think I'm at a point where I can move past a lot of it, and forgive him in my own head. But I don't know if I could actually say it to him. Partially because I don't think he'd really understand anyway :-/ ...
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