Observation: During a time of famine, Joseph, who is now the second-in-command to Pharaoh in Egypt, plays another trick on his brothers from the land of Canaan. He has already secretly returned their money to them when they come to Egypt to buy grain. After they come back and proclaim their innocence, Joseph takes it further and plants his silver cup in his youngest brother Benjamin's bag, to make it look like he stole it.
I'm pretty sure Joseph already knows what he is planning to do--that eventually, he will forgive his brothers for selling him into slavery all those years ago, and invite his extended family to live with him in luxury in Egypt. Eventually. But first, he wants to mess with them.
Application: To me, this is a familiar feeling. Not just messing with your siblings--although I was a pretty obnoxious older brother once--but the idea of "cutting loose" a little when you have resolved to do the "right thing." Having that last ice cream Sundae at the end of the week, when your diet starts Monday. Playing another hour of video games because you know tomorrow you're going to try to be screen-free. Sharing that last juicy piece of gossip, then swearing up and down it'll be the last one. When you have made a big decision and resolved to do something right, it can be tempting to do a little thing wrong--even if you know it's wrong--to celebrate. That's the whole idea of "Mardi Gras" or "Fat Tuesday" (which is coming up the week after next, BTW). When you know you're headed for the great spiritual challenge of Lent, why not succumb to a few temptations as a "last hurrah"?
This rarely works out well. Even with false deadlines, we are great at justifying behaviors we know aren't healthy. We're great at procrastinating--at least I know I am. There's always going to be a reason to kick the can down the road, and the bigger and more life-changing the resolution is--like finally making that phone call, and offering forgiveness to a person who hurt you--the more it will make sense to us that we really aren't ready, and we may as well take a breather and get down to that next week, next month, next year.
Here's what I think we should try instead: what if instead of making big, sweeping resolutions for some future date, we tried to do little, tiny "right" things, right now, instead of later? What if most of life isn't about grand gestures, but minute-by-minute choices that the Holy Spirit uses to slowly build and develop the person God needs us to be? What if March 6 (Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent) wasn't a deadline at all, but a day to reflect, and take one hour at a time, like any other day? What if it wasn't about big resolutions, no big giving up or taking up, but directions that we want to go, one baby step at a time?
So yeah...maybe in this instance, don't be like Joseph. Don't put off the big right thing for tomorrow. Do the little right thing today.
Prayer: God, when my vision gets too grand, I get intimidated. Keep me focused on what I need to do today, right now. Point me in the right direction, even if I don't get far today. Amen.
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