Genesis 49:28-50:14
Joseph's faithfulness to Jacob stood out to me today. Jacob takes his last breath but before he dies he makes his sons promise that they will take Jacob back to be buried with his ancestors. Once Jacob passes on, Joseph immediately gets to work on the commitment made to his father. This was not a simple task. It involved embalming, getting permission from Pharaoh to leave, lengthy travel with many family members, servants and workers, just to name a few. Yet, Joseph pursues this task wholeheartedly.
So how are you doing in the "being faithful to others" category? I find that I have great intentions, but those intentions don't always come to fruition. Sound familiar? So if we're lagging a little, what can we do to improve on being there more consistently for our family, friends, even a neighbor in need? Is there someone or a situation in which you can go that extra mile for this weekend? Tami W.
Although, I try to be faithful to others, I too fall short. Tami, your comment, "I have great intentions, but those intentions don't always come to fruition" really stood out to me. I recently was reprimanded for an error and although I could have come up with a lot of excuses, I accepted my error and worked to correct it. In my opinion, honesty is better than pointing the finger to your mistakes.
I have a tendency to take on too much, assist too many and, as a result, I fail at what I need to do. For me, I have to put things in order. I always have time for God! I will not allow Him to take a "back seat" to anything in life. But, when it comes to other areas of my life, I am going to work on doing only what I can achieve and focus on things that are building to the Kingdom of God. If that means saying "no" then that is what it will have to be. I can't help everyone, but I can help someone, if I get my perspectives in order.
I thank God for this lesson on Joseph! I have studied Joseph before, but I have learned so much through applying the word with the help of my P4 family.
Thank you for a very special month! My trials will be so much easier when I remember the trials of Joseph and how he NEVER stopped following God!
I find that making daily plans are easy but hard to keep up because so many "unplanned" things turn up. I think I really need to sit down daily and ask God to bless each day and help me with my plans for the day. Sometimes I try to clutter my day with unimportant things. The early morning devotions and prayers are a must and nothing can distract me from that. Sometimes it is not as early as I would want. I also have to give my Lord and Saviour thanks before I go to bed. Sometimes we need to slow down and prioritize and ask God's blessings and it will work out if it has His blessings.
We must be there for family and friends. We take them for granted but they really needs us. Every Tuesday the priest and I visit housebound persons who are unable to come to Church. This about 5o persons spreading over each month. They do look forward for the visit. I also try to call up and keep in touch with some of those who live alone. We need to pray for each other in this area that God will give us the strength to continue do this.
Tami enjoy your NRB2010 meeting and looking forward to hearing about it. God bless you all.
"Being faithful to others" is something we always need to work on! In our society today most folks think only of themselves first.
As Christians we need to always "go the extra mile" and think of others first. We need to follow through with any commitment we make. Living by the Golden Rule that our Lord gave us found in Mat 7:12 "So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets" ... is the best way to improve ourselves.
I believe we need to live out the great commission. Jesus said in Matthew 28:19 Go forth and teach all nations. We need to be about the Lords work. Too many brothers and sisters want to sit in the pews and watch satin reap his terror on the world . The earthquakes in Haiti and Chile,are his handy work . The love of Christ must come through in our last days. If we don't have family, friends who need us ,then their are people in world who need to see Christ working through us.I want to do my best not just with words but my actions.Jesus tells us this in MATTHEW 25:31-46
What stood out to me in this section of scripture was how it said after he had blessed each of his children. Funny most of it didn't sound like blessing to me and I noticed others felt the same too. I found it interesting how Joseph embalmed his father as it wasn't custom but he was in Egypt. I wonder if that is where the saying comes when in Rome comes from. Joseph sure was faithful, and was a blessing.