It is important to see ourselves clearly because this connects us to what we believe we are capable of. If we believe ourselves to be powerless, hopeless and lost then our actions will reflect that. On the opposite side of that coin, if we see ourselves as loved, as conquerors and as children of God, it should spur us on to good works.
Jesus used the parable of the talents to explain the concept of using our talents for His glory. Not as a works equal salvation idea, but as a desire to show our love for Him and be ambassadors for Him so that others may know Him. Sometimes I think that we fail to use our talents to their fullest potential out of fear. What will others think? Will I fail to do what I set out to do? If fear is holding you back, then Satan is winning.
God speaks to our fear in both the Old and the New Testament:
“Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”
Deuteronomy 31:6 (ESV)
“for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”
II Timothy 1:7 (ESV)
Fear can prevent the ordinary from being extraordinary. Just consider how God used Esther to save her people. Her story has become the mantra of many:
“…. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
Esther 4:14
We are only given the present in which to take action. We do not always get to see the full picture of the when, where, why and what for. Our job is to keep our eyes focused on Jesus and to keep moving forward.
A person in the Bible that exemplifies this principle is Joseph. His story is one of resiliency in the face of repetitive and insurmountable challenges, yet he remained faithful to God in all that he did. This is amazing to me because there is no recording of God ever speaking directly to him as he did to others in the Old Testament. Keeping this in mind, consider what kind of self-identity Joseph had to have to allow him to persist in doing God’s will.
He came from what we would call a dysfunctional family. His brothers hated him to the point of wanting to kill him. While we get the bird’s eye view of his story, Joseph’s viewpoint was front and center stage, only able to see the present situation.
When I think about his life, I would sum it up with the three “P’s” – the pit, Potiphar’s house, and prison. The first “P” came when his brothers conspired to kill him but instead threw him into a deep pit. (Thank goodness for Reuben or the story would have been over already!) Sitting in the bottom of a pit would have been enough for me to throw my hands up and give up. Forget the physical condition of the pit, I don’t think that I could have gotten past the fact that my brothers threw me in there! A betrayal by people who you may disagree with but ultimately trust with your well-being has got to be a betrayal of the worst kind. Have you ever been in that kind of metaphorical “pit”? A pit created by circumstances outside of your control and maybe by people you expected to care for you? That can definitely have an impact on your self-identity.
Flash forward to the next “P” in Joseph’s life – Potiphar’s house. Joseph is taken out of the pit and sold into Potiphar’s house. It is in these verses that we begin to see the phrase “The Lord was with Joseph”. It’s like a red flag that says, “look, the Lord is getting ready to do something amazing!”
In Potiphar’s house, Joseph rose to a prominent position to the point that the Bible tells us that Potiphar worried about nothing except the food he ate. That was until Potiphar’s wife decided she wanted Joseph. Joseph responds to her that he cannot sin against God. It is this statement that reveals to us that Joseph has maintained his self-identity as a child of God through his adversities up to this point.
Have you ever found yourself in a relationship that beckoned you away from God? Some relationships can be minimized or avoided, while others may be lifetime commitments. In either instance, we can take our cue from Joseph and realize that seeing ourselves as God’s child is an essential guide for our actions.
The final “P” in Joseph’s life stands for prison. We soon discover that just because the Lord was with Joseph he was not shielded from adversity. As a result of resisting Potiphar’s wife and fleeing, Joseph is falsely accused by Potiphar and thrown in prison. It is in this part of his life that I would have thought his self-identity should have taken a nosedive. He’s in prison for two years and in chapter 40 verse 15 we get a glimpse of his reality –
“For I was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the pit.”
Genesis 40:15 (ESV)
Sometimes we imprison ourselves with fear, contentment, or the false reassurances of what the world has to offer. Sometimes we sit and cry over the unfairness of life. There are times when our self-identity wavers and we may even walk away from the Lord at those times. But God never walks away from us. He is every present and willing and waiting for us. Grounding our self-identity in the Lord allows us to persevere as Joseph did. His statement in Genesis 50:20 can serve as an inspiration through our own adversities:
“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”
Genesis 50:20 (ESV)
Giving God the Glory 