Insight for Today
A Daily Devotional by Pastor Chuck Swindoll

Attitude Adjustment

(?)

"So it was God who sent me here, not you! And he is the one who made me an adviser[a] to Pharaoh—the manager of his entire palace and the governor of all Egypt.

“Now hurry back to my father and tell him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me master over all the land of Egypt. So come down to me immediately!'" (Genesis 45:8–9)

On top of his forgiveness and reassurance, he "made them an offer they couldn't refuse." He urged them to return and bring their father to this land, where they could enjoy relief from their barren existence.

Joseph said, "Brothers, I have seen a change in your lives. You care about our father and one another, and you never did before. You care about Benjamin, more than even your own lives. What a change!"

Attitude is so crucial in the life of the Christian. We can go through the Sunday motions, we can carry out the religious exercises, we can pack a Bible under our arms, and sing familiar songs from memory, yet we can still hold grudges against the people who have wronged us. In our own way—and it may even be with a little religious manipulation—we'll get back at them. But that is not God's way. Here, He shows us the right way. He gives us the example of Joseph, great man that he was, being supportive, merciful, gracious, generous, and unselfish. He's not through showing how deeply he cares for them. Look at this next scene!

"Then he fell on his brother Benjamin's neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. He kissed all his brothers and wept on them, and afterward his brothers talked with him" (Genesis 45:14–15).

I would imagine they "talked with him!" They had about twenty-five years' worth of talking to do. And I am confident that every time they went back and started to rehearse their wrongs, Joseph stopped them. "We're not going there. That was then, this is now. God had a plan, and it's all worked out for our good and His glory. Let's talk about that."

The late great preacher, John Henry Jowett, used to say that a minister doesn't deserve an hour to preach a sermon if he can't give it in one sentence. So let me give you this sermon in a sentence: Greatness is revealed mainly in our attitude.