God's Blessing

Everywhere Joseph went in Egypt, things flourished. He was sold as a slave to Potiphar, and Potiphar's entire household prospered. So much so that he put Joseph in charge of all of it. And later, when Joseph found himself in prison, the prison prospered and had none of the issues that you'd imagine would be fairly common in prison. So the warden put Joseph in charge of the whole prison. 

Here's what we have to notice: these Egyptian men who benefited from Joseph's faith were not impressed by how Joseph's life was prospering. They weren't impressed by how his life looked. Remember - from the outside looking in, Joseph's life was a train wreck: sold into slavery, carried off to a foreign land, a lowly servant in a household. Nobody looks at this life and is impressed by it. 

But the way that Joseph's presence impacted the rest of the household, or the rest of the prison, is worth noticing. It's this that got the attention of his Egyptian masters. 

Sometimes, we think that the way to demonstrate God in our world is to have lives that flourish. We have to live lives that ooze blessing out our front doors, so that anyone who walks by us knows how much God loves us. 

This story in Genesis, though, reminds us that God's mark on our lives isn't our own blessing; it's the way that we bless others. It's the way not that our lives flourish, but the way that the lives of those around us flourish. 

Judging just by Joseph's life, he never becomes second-in-command of all of Egypt. But watch the way that literally everyone and everything around him thrives because of God's blessing on him, and all of a sudden, a Hebrew slave is running the kingdom. 

It really is true - God has blessed you to be a blessing. So who are you blessing today?