Joseph

We heard a sermon tonight about Joseph; and him resisting temptation when Potiphar's wife tries to get him to have sex with her...

It was a good sermon; and got me thinking about how these people are so real. Sometime's when I teach Sunday School I fall into the habit of 'Now children, today's story is...' The other week I asked the 2 boys in my Sunday School class whether they have history at school... they eagerly replied "Yes" and proceeded to tell me about the Romans, the Victorians, the Edwardians... I then explained to them that the man we were going to learn about (Jeremiah at the time)was also real, he lived and Sunday School is like a history lesson about people who love God.

It did me good to remind myself of that tonight. That Joseph was real; he lived, his temptations were as real as ours. David was mentioned as an example in the sermon tonight, and it really struck me about poor Uriah, being brought home to sleep with his wife and resisting because he knew his men couldn't have the same privelidge and then being sent into the heat of the battle just because David couldn't resist temptation. How sorry David must have been!

Speaking of David's repentance, I have seen recently close to my own life the effects and consequences of sin and the grief those who commit sin endure. David lost a son, and one of his best soldiers - and most likely his witness and the respect of the people around him at the time... but once he had repented he didn't mope around; he didn't play the victim, he got on with his life and started instead to honour God with every fibre of his being...

Do you mope over sin? I know I can tend to... oh I'm so bad, I'm so wrong, I'll never be good enough for God. I had a conversation with someone a while ago about how guilt is a sin as well... think about it. God commands us not to worry - and guilt - guilt is worry over sin. If we have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for forgiveness of sins, then He HAS forgiven us our sin, past present and future. Yes we do right to grieve over our sin, to repent of our sins and to feel the consequences of our sin. But to wallow in guilt? Surely that is not God's plan for us!