Following Through With Our Commitment

This essay is written for those that have asked that heart anguishing question, “What can I do to be saved”, and have received the answer to repent and believe, and then they acted upon it. To find true repentance is to realize that standing alone before God’s law and righteousness ---our case would be utterly lost with any sense of justice. We would be absolutely doomed. Rightly so, we are contaminated at birth by a selfish nature that does not  willingly seek God’s will. We need to find a godly sorrow for this sin and repent. God is a God of love and cannot bear to cast us out into the abyss without a chance of any sort of redemption. He gave His Son as a sacrifice for our sin. His blood would and will cover us if we will accept Him as our Savior. This is where the “believe” comes in. To describe what happens next is too hard for one to scribe on paper. We enter a new territory; a new vision -- we become a new creature and all things become as new.  All the past hurts, hurdles, and hills are leveled. We become baptized with the Holy Spirit of God. The water baptism is the outward form of what happened to us on the inside. It also shows and tells the world that we have made a commitment. It is a responsibility because we are now not our own. “Being then made from free from sin ye became the servants of righteousness“ Romans 6:19. A living sacrifice to God which is our only reasonable service. (Romans 12:1)
This brings us to the point of our discussion. We have entered this new territory and want to follow through with our commitment. This territory has brought us a rest and ---most important--- it gives us a guiding Spirit - the Holy Spirit - the voice of God that communes in our heart. At the first we treasure this relationship so highly that we cannot imagine it could end or that we ever could willingly give it up. Yet we still have our old natures to deal with, and we also have an adversary that is furious that we have escaped his grasp. With six thousands years of practice on human nature, he will do his best to trip us up from our commitment. 
Christ has taken up His cross for our behalf, and promises us that to follow him we must take up our own cross, and that we will suffer persecution. However, victory will be ours because God grants us a grace to overcome as long as we are obedient. 
To illustrate our subject I would like the reader to take a journey into a different time and setting  so that he can see the same thing I see, a seventeen year old lad walking down a dusty trail. He has purpose in his stride--he’s a man on a mission. He is out to find his brothers herding their family’s sheep.  After you have studied his attractive face and demeanor, you can’t help but notice his coat. It is full of color. It is a masterpiece of craftsmanship; it was weaved by hand. If you would ask him he would tell you it was given him by his father. It would also not take much talking to find out that this lad has a loving relationship with his father. For us we can relate with this coat because the Word tells us in Isa. 61:10 “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my God, for he hath clothed me with the garments of Salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness.”
As you have guessed we are talking of Joseph in the Bible. Most of us know the story well, and I will focus on only a few points rather than the details. We know that when he finds his brothers his reception will be fearful and rather frightening for Joseph as they argue whether they shall kill him or not. This is dreadful to think of your own flesh and blood calling out for your blood, but the Word says that they “hateth him”. Jealousy and plain old malice were working in the heart of his brothers. Joseph had been favored of the father and as they looked at his coat with envious stares it was a ghastly reminder.  Not only that, but they called him a “Dreamer,” as he had told them of his visions.  Christ tells us that we “shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.  Evil hates the light because the light reproves its deeds. When men see the light of Christ in us and hear the visions revealed to us from the Holy Spirit, it will eventually bring the sinner into conflict. That is the reason that the prophets and even the Son of God were persecuted. Now, as we are willing to bear our commitment and carry the light, we, too, will come into conflict with the men of the world. They are like our brothers because we used to be one of them.
Poor Joesph was cast into a pit and then sold into slavery by his own kinsmen. Would not the thought that your own kinsmen were willing to do this to you shake you up alone? As we see by Joesph’s life this was not going to shake his resolve. The Bible does not give us many details about what his emotions or actions were at this time, but by the pattern of his life story we can see that he had a vision that maintained him. It was a godly vision. A vision that helped him embrace righteousness and allowed him to be obedient to God and the faith of his fathers in times of much adversity. If we are going to be successful in our commitment, we will also need to have this kind of vision. Where there is no vision the people perish. We are told to in all ways acknowledge Him (God) and he shall direct our paths. If we do not have this vision we need to pray for it.
As Joesph was sold to Potiphar’s house he truly found out he was in a different land. He was in the land of Egypt, a hot delta country of plenty. A country that worshipped foreign gods. A place where God’s righteousness and vision was not heeded. A place of immorality. Where is the fear of God? Today we find ourselves in Egypt. The spirit within us longs for home, to a place where there is no sin, and where we can rest. However, God chose for us to spend time down here to be tried and tested. In Egypt we are in enemy territory. We must proceed with caution as we are to keep our commitment. 
As we see Joesph in Potiphar’s house, we notice that he was “a goodly person and well favored,” and that the Lord blessed him in all that he did. Why did God bless him so? Was it because he had personal merits that warranted it? No; he was blessed because he had the fear of God in his heart, and he was obedient.  This portion of his character we see in Genesis 39:9. In his hour of temptation he cries out, “ How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” This goes back to that vision we mentioned before. He is not in Egypt to outwardly please men. Physically it would seem he is far from the sight of Jacob his Father and his brethren. However, he knows God has a plan for his life, and he has a commitment to keep to be faithful to God.
That brings us to the hour of temptation. The Devil goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.  In this case he wants to thwart God’s plan with Joesph by encouraging Potiphar’s wife to seduce him. Joesph answered with truth. He stated that his master allowed him to manage every thing in his master’s possession, only withholding from him his wife. He also did not want to sin against God. Jesus, in his days of temptation, also shows us that we need to fight the questions and suggestions of the evil one with truth. He gave us the Word full of promises and Truth to combat anything that can be thrown at us in this life. We need to study the Word if we are to keep our commitment. We are told we are never tempted more than we are able. We are told to resist the devil and he will flee from us
"But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness."  1Tim 6:11. The Word opens our eyes to what God’s righteousness is and what sin is. We walk blindly in this world of temptation without the Word in our hearts. . In following through with our commitment we need to be serious with filling our hearts with the good. Especially after we have had an experience of repentence or reconsecreation we cannot afford to leave the room of our hearts swept and garnished and then empty. We need to fill it with Truth and hymns to arm us when the devil comes to probe our weaknesses.  
In Joesph’s case we see the next phase of temptation being used. “And it came to pass, as she spake to Joesph day by day.  Can we relate with that numbing, grinding siege of sin that tries your soul? What plagues you day by day trying to draw your mind and heart away from God?  Is it a pride or idol in your life or is it a root of unbelief? Whatever that sin may be, it relentlessly follows us through the day, through the week, through the year. Yet Joseph answered in this way: He refused and “he harkened not unto her ..to be with her. He fought back by a grace given by God to resist and also  avoid the temptation. God has always promised us a way out of temptation.(1 Cor. 10:13) As Christians we need to know our weaknesses and avoid those things that compromise our commitment. So we can be faithful in those areas. “And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. Matt. 5:30”
The other temptation the devil uses is one of force. He uses the wind, the earthquake, and fire to try to move us to disobey, or even to destroy our commitment. Potiphar’s wife waited for the opportune time and caught hold of Joesph. He fled leaving his coat behind. She screamed and falsely accused him. She caused the master’s wrath to be kindled to the point of throwing Joesph into prison. 


Throughout the Bible, in times like these, God has promised:  “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Duet. 31:6” Our prison today could be depression, fear, or grief, but God can deliver us. We do know that Joesph must have rebounded from this set back because it wasn’t long until he won the favor of the keeper of the prison. In all this, Joseph is also about to exhibit something that should be observed in committed Christians. When Pharaoh’s cup bearer and baker were put under his care, he noticed that they were sad and asked them about their troubles. Not only that, but he offered to help them with a gift given to him by God when he asked, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me them, I pray to you.” If we are true to our commitment  we will still be ready, by the grace of God, to lift the loads of others, even when we have been cast down. “Love covers a multitude of sins. 1Peter 4:8”


We will not take the time to go through the whole story, but we know that Joseph came to be chief adviser and officer under Pharaoh. In this elevated position he did not become too inflated or covetous to forget his commitment to God. With the little that we have as Christians, it seems that we so often times get choked with the cares of life. The seed is the Word and we allow so many weeds to choke out its fruitfulness in our lives. As a weed control specialist needs to know the difference between a weed and the plant, we need to study the Word and listen to the Spirit of God to help us identify those needs in our life. Many times an aerial view from another brother is needed as well to help us with what we can‘t see at ground level.
  As we think over the 13 years God blessed Joseph from slave boy to chief officer under pharaoh, we can only wonder at this promise of God: “ Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me." Psalm 50:15”  
After 20 years he finally met his brothers. This time the roles were reversed. However, the story does not end on a revengeful note. Joseph reveals that God’s righteousness and vision in his life that been planted in his youth still remains, and had even flourished despite the wrongs and hurts that life threw at him. He forgives and embraces his brethren, recognizing that “God did send me before you to preserve life”. When we go through struggles and tests of the moment, we cannot see the plan of God because his ways are higher and mightier than our ways. If we but keep our commitment in obedience, he can use us in ways we cannot see. To me, one of the greatest finales of the story of Joesph is the reunion of father and son. 
The brothers told him Joseph was alive and was governor over all of Egypt. Jacob’s heart fainted, for he believed them not. Israel was an old man of 130 yrs at the time, and God came to him in a vision to comfort him on his trip to Egypt. And he was not to be disappointed. When he arrived in Goshen the Word says
“ Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen, and presented himself unto him; and he fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while. Genesis 46:29”
What will our reunion be like when we meet our Saviour and Father when our journey has come to its end? Will we have fought a good fight and kept the Faith? Will we be true and follow through with our commitment?