Theological Commentary: Click Here
Discipleship Focus: Identity
- Identity: Our true identity comes from God. Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.
Do you know what I love about the end of Genesis? I love the example of Joseph as we conclude this
book. Here we see that Joseph is a true
man of God as his identity is upon the will of God.
How can we see this? First,
look at how Joseph keeps his promise to his father. When Jacob dies, Joseph takes him back to the
Promised Land – back into the promise of God.
We also see it in the interaction between himself and his brothers. Joseph’s forgiveness doesn’t need to be
bought as his brothers intend. Joseph’s
forgiveness is truly given because he understands who God has intended him to
be.
However, the most meaningful way that we can see that Joseph gets
his identity from God is in the way he focuses upon the will of God. In the end, Joseph doesn’t point out how much
he has prospered when his brothers intended him harm. Joseph doesn’t talk about how much more God
must love him because of his position in Egypt.
In the end, Joseph reminds his brothers that although the brothers did
plan harm, God was powerful enough to turn that harm into a means for
furthering God’s plan. In the end,
Joseph isn’t focused on his own success because he is too busy focused on what
God is doing in the world. That’s a man
who gets his identity from the Father.
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