Let Brotherly Love Continue...
For me, this week was monumental. I’ve faced some challenges I’d never thought I’d face with the person I’ve been facing it with. Seems that when you are both members of the body of Christ, and both members of the same church, you would have each other’s back. Right?...
Wrong!
Boy, have I been learning the hard way! You cannot put your trust in everyone that appears as an angel of light, because you’ll later find out that that’s just what it is…an “appearance”.
You see, I’ve learned that when one seeks the demise of another, what they are really doing is digging a ditch for themselves. You know, it’s one of those things you’ve always heard your grandmother say, but never really understood what it meant until you walked it out yourself. Well, that’s my story!
Ladies and gents, it is not wise to seek the demise of another because that demise could very well turn on you! Let’s just ask Joseph’s brothers. You know the story. They were jealous. They sought to destroy him. He was sold into slavery. He was thrown into a pit. And here’s the upside of the story…He was lifted out of the pit and became 2nd in command to Pharoah, which meant that his brothers, the same people who devised a plan to destroy him, would now have to turn around and seek him for assistance because they found themselves in a place of famine. I feel led to say that the same way this turn-around happened for Joseph is the same way it will turn around for those of you who are reading this and have experienced a similar betrayal.
If your character didn’t get you there, your character cannot keep you there. I believe Joseph’s mature response to his brothers, in that he sought no revenge, spoke of his character, which is what ultimately catapulted him to this position of power…AND kept him there!
Proverbs 18:16 says, “A man’s gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men. It didn’t say a man’s plan, but his gift. See, these gifts we carry, are the answers to someone’s problem and so where there is a need for the gift, there is room for it. You cannot expect to sustain in a place that you’ve forced your way into. That’s like trying to put your foot into a size 8 shoe, when you really wear a size 10!
It is up to us Christians, to mirror the behavior of Christ wherever we go. Whether it is in the workplace, in church or at home, the God in us should bear the fruit of the character of Christ and be counted as his witness in the earth.
See, we are many members in one body and everyone has their own place in the body. The eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you (I Cor 12:21). So let’s keep in mind, that we all matter! And if we are not careful, those opportunities that help to build our reputations, could be those same opportunities that will discredit our reputations when mishandled. So, it behooves us to treat people right and not to lend ourselves to trickery, just to get the upper-hand. It’s likely that the hand you’ll be dealt, will be far worse than the hand you’ve given out!
I’ll conclude by saying this…Let’s treat what we have been given to do with grace, whether it involves people, a place or a process. All are important.
And finally, let’s not let pride influence our influence!...But always, Let brotherly love continue (Heb 13:1).
