Reflection on Genesis40:4
Joseph
is one of the finest examples in the Bible of faithfulness in the face of
tribulation. Wherever he was, Joseph lived for the glory of God. We are
frequently told that the Lord was with him and gave him success. Joseph
demonstrated that he could be trusted in a variety of settings, thereby showing
himself dependable. He was faithful over small things, so God was able to set
him over large things.
Most
of our failures come with the small things. It rarely occurs to us that the
challenge of the moment is to demonstrate ourselves faithful at that point. But
if we persevere, then—and only then—will we be trusted with greater
responsibilities and opportunities.
YOUR LIFE APART FROM
GOD
If by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of
the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these
are sons of God.
Why
do you still react as if your old skipper were still in control of your
behavior? Because while you served under it, your old self trained and
conditioned your actions, reactions, emotional responses, thought patterns,
memories, and habits in a part of your brain called "the flesh." The
flesh is that tendency within each person to operate independently of God and
to center his interest on himself. An unsaved person functions totally in the
flesh (Romans 8:7, 8), worshipping and serving the creature rather than the
Creator (Romans 1:25). Such persons "live for themselves" (2Corinthians 5:15), even though many of their activities may appear to be
motivated by selflessness and concern for others.
When
you were born again, your old self died and your new self came to life, and you
were made a partaker of Christ's divine nature. But your flesh remains. You brought
to your Christian commitment a fully conditioned mind-set and lifestyle
developed apart from God and centered on yourself. Since you were born
physically alive but spiritually dead, you had neither the presence of God nor
the knowledge of God's ways. So you learned to live your life independently of
God. It is this learned independence that makes the flesh hostile toward God.
During
the years you spent separated from God, your worldly experiences thoroughly
programmed your brain with thought patterns, memory traces, responses, and
habits which are alien to God. So even though your old self is gone, your flesh
remains in opposition to God as a preprogrammed propensity for sin, which is
living independently of God.
Be
aware that you no longer have to obey that preprogrammed bent to live
independently of God. You are a child of God, and you are free to put to death
those fleshly deeds and obey Christ.
Prayer: Lord, I make a fresh
declaration of dependence on You for today. I renounce all my old tendencies to
live independently of You.
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