Monday, August 27, 2012

The Life of a Dreamer- Fight or Flight


Genesis 39 is the story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife.  This is the original desperate housewife story.  Potiphar buys Joseph as a slave and places him in charge over the entire household.  Potiphar’s wife takes notice of the young, handsome man in her house and she attempts to seduce Joseph.  At every turn Joseph refuses her advances.  One day Potiphar’s wife sets her trap.  She sends everyone out of the house so that she and Joseph are home alone.  She grabs Joseph and brazenly demands that he take her to bed.  Joseph flees leaving his cloak in her hand.  When Potiphar returns his wife lies about the events of the day resulting in Joseph being sent to prison.

There is a moral to this story that we can benefit from.  We should flee temptations and fight sins.  Too often we do the opposite.  It is foolish to try and fight temptations.  An alcoholic should not sit in a bar and resist the urge, instead he/she should flee from the bar as quickly as possible.  When faced with temptation it is time to retreat.  Sins are different.  We should stand and fight sins tooth and nail.  It is not wise to hide from our sins or to try and run away from our sins.  Fleeing will not make the sin go away.  When there is sin in our lives we need to gather allies, pray hard, meditate on scripture, and fight until the sin is defeated.  So, the moral of today’s lesson is to flee temptations and fight sins.

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