Sunday – July 16, 2017 – Read the Word on Worship
Sunday – July 16, 2017 Genesis 45:1-28 “Forgiveness is a Four Letter Word” from Sunrise Community Church on Vimeo.
Word On Worship – Sunday – July 16, 2017 Download / Print
Genesis 45:4-6
“Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come closer to me.” And they came closer. And he said, “I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.”
There is perhaps nothing so moving as witnessing a fractured family being reconciled and reunited. That’s why Genesis 45 is such a moving chapter. We are allowed to look in on the reconciliation between Joseph and his brothers after 22 years of separation and estrangement. After Judah’s impassioned plea on behalf of Benjamin and their father (44:18-34), Joseph saw that his brothers had truly repented of their terrible sin of selling him into slavery. Imagine the rush of confusion and horror which swept over Joseph’s brothers when they heard this Egyptian governor say, “I am your brother Joseph.”
It is not an exaggeration to say that relationships are the most important thing in life, because the two greatest commandments in the Bible have to do with right relationships–first toward God and then toward one another. Whenever you see broken relationships toward God or in the family or in the church, you know that it is not pleasing to God. God is in the business of reconciling broken relationships and it should be a family business for we who are in the household of God.
As hard a pill as it is to swallow, the key to being reconciled to a family member or friend from whom you are estranged lies in your attitude. I know what you are thinking: What about their attitude? Obviously, at some point their attitude also has to change for reconciliation to be complete. But often the key to bringing them to change is when they see how you have responded to the wrong things they have done to you. Often it is the offended person, like Joseph here, who must take the initiative in reconciliation.
Focus on your attitude, not on the other person’s behavior or attitude. If you will deal with your attitude by forgiving those who have wronged you and by submitting yourself to the sovereign God’s dealings with you, He will use you as His agent of reconciliation to those who have wronged you. Joseph had already long forgiven his brothers before they came to the point of repentance Your attitude is the key to reconciliation. Ask God to give you His love and forgiveness toward the one who has wronged you and then you will know the joy of restored, loving, God-centered relationships.