Keeping Our Perspective

"And the LORD was with Joseph," and he gained authority in his master's (Potiphar) house. every thing was under his control... "thus he [poti, as his friends called him] left all that he had in Joseph's hand, and he did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate.".

but potiphar's wife had a thing for joe and tried to seduce him. look at joseph's reply:

1. my master trusts me completely, so much so that he doesn't even concern himself about it.

2. besides him, he has granted me the most authority in his house.

3. the only thing that is hands off in this home is you.

"how then can i do this great wickedness and sin against..."

i always expect him to say potiphar. i've read this passage dozens of times and every time my mind tells me "how can i sin against potiphar"...that is the natural way to think, we sin against each other--but that isn't how joseph sees it.

after recounting all the kindnesses potiphar showed him, how he rose in authority in his house, how the only thing withheld from him was his wife, he says: "how can i do this great wickedness and sin against God?".

i think the point is this: if our sin is only against each other we can excuse it by saying things like,

"they would do the same to me if they had half a chance", or
"what they don't know won't hurt them", or
"what the heck? every one does it.", or
"they deserve it", or
"who cares?", or
"fun!"

but our sin is against God,

who has half a chance and doesn't do it.
who always knows what we doing.
who never, ever, ever does it.
who doesn't deserve it.
who cares.
who endured the not so fun thing of hanging on a cross and dying for our sin. sure, that we would be forgiven of it--but that it also wouldn't have the power over us it once had and that we would have the ability to now say no to it.

"no", what a novel concept.