THE HOME-FOLKS

 Genesis 45:16-28

Joseph looked after the home-folks. He did it thoughtfully and graciously. They must share the prosperity that had come to him. It’s one of the fine touches. It reveals his wholesome goodness. Prosperity is one of the acid tests of character. It is so often hard on the old home-ties. It loosens them. It’s bad when success dulls old home loyalty. The heart should be true to God and self and to one’s kin.

Galatians 4:4-5  But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. 

Think about these questions as you meditate on the verse. What does this verse teach me? How does this verse apply to my Life?

A FINE TEST

Genesis 47:1-12

It’s an ugly thing to see a young man, trained in the finer conventionalities, ashamed of the old-fashioned folks from the old country home. It’s a bad sign. There’s something wrong. Joseph’s kinsfolk were foreigners, their occupation utterly despised, their manner of life wholly strange to the Egyptians. It would have been easy for some to have been ashamed of them. But not this ruggedly true Joseph. Loving loyalty to father and mother is a fine test of character.

Isaiah 7:14 The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;

Think about these questions as you meditate on the verse. What does this verse teach me? How does this verse apply to my Life?

THE OTHER FELLOW

Luke 17:1-10

The other fellow has something to forgive, too. Don’t let’s forget that. He has our unforgiving spirit to forgive, at the least. And what is harder to come up against than that? Or, what is harder to forgive? And then there’s God. What has he to forgive in me and you? The only place where you are sure, really sure, not to fall is flat on your face in the dust, pleading God’s forgiving grace.

Deuteronomy 18:15 The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;

Think about these questions as you meditate on the verse. What does this verse teach me? How does this verse apply to my Life?

Romans 15:7 Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God. 

Think about these questions as you meditate on the verse. What does this verse teach me? How does this verse apply to my Life?

LOVE IN REAL CONTRAST

 Matthew 6:5-15

Close contact intensifies personal feeling, both hate and love. It’s harder to forgive your near kinsman than someone you never saw. Family feuds are always the bitterest. King George and Emperor William are cousins. The terrible war was a family fight. Does this explain its bitterness, partly? Yet we’re all brothers, blood brothers. We’re all sons of the one Father, creatively. Love that’s really love controls all of one’s contacts.

Romans 5:4  And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. 

Think about these questions as you meditate on the verse. What does this verse teach me? How does this verse apply to my Life?

A PICTURE OF GOD

 Genesis 44:1-13

Joseph is a wonderfully vivid picture of Jesus, and so of God. He was misunderstood, envied, hated bitterly, plotted against even to the point of death. His brothers were hardened in their attitude to the last degree. His task of love was to handle them so tactfully and wisely and firmly that his love would change their hearts toward him, and so their character. It’s a wondrous picture of God’s forgiveness. And God’s is the standard for ours.