1 John 3:18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
“If we really want to love, we must learn to forgive.”— Mother Teresa.
Jesus demonstrated love in action. God said, I love the humanity that I created in my own image and He sent His son to redeem us through the ghastly crucifixion on the cross. Love is a verb and not an adjective. Love must be expressed in genuine actions, not in flamboyant words.
Joseph was ill-treated, abused and mishandled by his own siblings. He was left in a ditch to die; sold as a slave, stigmatized, ostracized, marginalized and imprisoned in a foreign pagan land. Yet, when the Lord gave him an opportunity to become a blessing to the same kin, he turned their wrongdoings into a witness. As for you, you meant evil against me, but God turned it into good in order to bring about this present result, to save the lives of many people. (Genesis 50:20). It was humanly impossible for him to forget his childhood trauma but he chose to turn the treachery into a testimony. Joseph enjoyed the love of his Heavenly Father during those years of loneliness, hence he did not harbor hatred but could see God’s sovereign plan even through the brutal mistreatment. It is impossible to love those who abuse you until we personally taste and enjoy the love of God. “When you forgive, you in no way change the past – but you sure do change the future.” Love changes the willful, wily wrongdoings into a witness.
Love turns wrongs to rights:
1. Willful: The brothers of Joseph hated him as he was a dreamer and a visionary. When we dream big we will earn enemies even within our own family bloodline. Only those who are closest to us have access to hurt us. Yet love turns willful mistakes of people into opportunities to experience God’s unfailing love. Only when we are abandoned by people will we taste the true love of God. Joseph saw his slavery as the steps to significance hence he was able to love his brothers who willfully hurt him. Love uses the push from the devil into thrusts of promotions.
- Wily: The brothers who first decided to leave Joseph to die in the ditch then turned around and sold him to the Ishmaelites. They shared the blood money from the slavery of the young lad, yet, Joseph was able to see this act of treason as an entry into the treasury of Egypt. Love turns the effects of wily wrongdoings into worship.
- Wrongs: God’s love rides on the wrongs to promote us to the throne. Rather than taking justice into our own hands and to hurt those who hurt us, give the offense and betrayal into God’s hands. God’s love turns the humiliation into honour, ashes into beauty and wrongs to rights.
Love overturns transgressions into a testimony.
1 Corinthians 13:13: Now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, may I be soaked in your love that even the willful, wily wielding of the wicked would not hurt me. Teach me to turn the treachery into a testimony. Amen.
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