Welcome to the world. Where being nice gets you…

              “Welcome to the world.  Where being nice never gets you anywhere”.  This was graphic I saw on a couple friend’s Facebook pages.  My first thought was, “wow, is that how you really see things”?  However, I know what a couple of these friends are going through.  Life has been a little rough on them and they are plagued with medical problems.  Both have had major surgeries and are keeping a couple of doctors in business.

This follows right in line with one of the messages God has given me.  “What’s Your Point of View”?  With it, I go back to the Old Testament and the story of Joseph.  A little side note, my youngest brother’s name is Joseph.  It’s, of course, a Hebrew name meaning “Jehovah Increases”.  Now, you want to talk about a dude with a dysfunctional family life, Joseph of the Bible would be it!

Joe was a good looking guy and favored by his father.  His brothers didn’t like that fact, so when He was a teen, they wanted to kill him.  Rather than do that, they threw him in a pit and sold him into slavery.  The worst thing my brother ever did to me was take one of my teenage girl friends.  So I didn’t have it that bad.  But Joseph chose to look at things a certain way and continued to trust in God.  Eventually Joe was the head of his master’s house.

At that point, Joseph was in his twenties and a handsome man.  His master’s wife thought so too.  She even tried to seduce Joe.  When he refused on the basis of, “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God”?  What a statement!  So what was his reward?  Jail!  She told her husband, Joseph’s master that Joe tried to seduce HER.

In prison, Joseph met a couple of Pharaoh’s employees.  Talk about a harsh work environment.  Most bosses don’t like your work they just give you a pink slip.  Pharaoh threw his guys in jail.  Nevertheless, it was at this point little Joe started interpreting dreams.

In the end, Joe became a supreme power in Egypt helping save his family during a time of famine.  ALL BECAUSE he chose how he looked at things.  He never gave up and never stopped trusting God.  Now this was a couple of decades in the making.  However, Joseph never gave up!

Oh, and by the way; Joseph was “nice” to his brothers who had sold him into slavery when they came to him for help.  They didn’t recognize Joseph at the time but he knew who they were.  Joseph predicted this would happen but because Joe was “nice”, he was eventually reunited with his family.

Joe had every right by our standards to be angry.  He went from slave, to prisoner, to ruler, partly because of his brothers’ jealousy.  I’d like to think it was MOSTLY because God had a bigger plan than any of them could imagine.  Joe was able to accomplish that plan because he was obedient to God and CHOSE how he would look at his situation.

You know, sometimes God uses adversity to bring us closer to Him.  His goal all along has been to have a personal relationship with His creation.  Maybe He is calling you closer to Him if you’d just listen.

I encourage you to look to God and trust in His promises.  And try to be nice to someone today.  You might actually like it.

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