Romans 5:3 And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins.  

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

RARE DIPLOMACY

 Genesis 43:26-34

Never was diplomacy—love’s wooing, winning diplomacy—sent on a harder mission than when Joseph set out to do—what? Be willing to forgive his brothers’ terrible conduct toward himself? No, no; something far different: to make them really broken-hearted to think they should have treated him so. This explains all his rarely keen, subtly shrewd —yet always loving and honest—handling of them, from first to last. This sets the standard for real, full forgiveness.

Hebrews 10:36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

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

IT TAKES BRAINS

 Genesis 43:15-25

To forgive in your heart is often a pretty tough task. It’s a fight with yourself. It’s a matter of your heart and will. Yet it is the easier part of forgiveness, even when not easy. To tell your forgiveness, and make the other eager for it—ah! that’s another thing, a far harder thing. That’s a matter of brains and tact. It’s the heart stimulating the gray matter of the brain. Yet this is what forgiveness means, often.

Hebrews 10:35 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. 

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

WISE FORGIVENESS

Genesis 45:1-15

Wise forgiveness is difficult and rare. It needs an exquisite blend of graciousness and firmness. Joseph had a ticklish job on his hands. His brothers didn’t want forgiveness. They weren’t penitent. It wasn’t simply that he should have a forgiving spirit toward them, but that he should so handle them as to lead to that brokenness of heart in them that would long for forgiveness and be grateful for it, and become utterly changed in conduct.

1 John 2:1  My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

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

SCHOOLTIME

 Matthew 25:14-30

This is schooltime. We’re in training. There’s a new order of things coming to the earth some day. God carries an ideal in his heart. Some day he will carry it out on this old earth. In that ideal time coming he will need men and women whom he has trained, and whose experience and judgment he can trust. Let’s be good scholars in school, patient, steady, quick to learn, with unfailing trust in the Teacher.

Hebrews 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living 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?

GOD’S CLOCK

Genesis 41:25-32

There’s a simplicity about God in working out his plans, yet a resourcefulness equal to any difficulty, and an unswerving faithfulness to his trusting child, and an unforgetting steadiness in holding to his purpose. Through a fellow-prisoner, then a dream, he lifts Joseph from a prison to a premiership. And the length of stay in the prison prevents dizziness in the premier. It’s safe to trust God’s methods, and to go by his clock.