since the beginning of the year I have been thinking a lot about my attitude and about how to have a great attitude. as I have been reading through the Bible, its amazing just how much it talks about attitude without actually talking about it. one of the best examples of a great attitude from the pages of scripture is joseph from the book of genesis.
we all know the story, but its fascinating to look at his story from the perspective of his attitude. as a young man, joseph is given dreams that one day his family will bow down to him. he tells them to his family and they hate him for it- especially his brothers. they end up beating him and eventually selling him onto slavery and faking his death.
he is hated by his family, beaten by his brothers, and sold off into slavery-
at this point, joseph has earned a bad attitude, but instead, he has a great attitude.
he makes up his mind to be the best slave that he can be- and eventually his owner, potiphar leaves him in charge of all of his business affairs.
but potiphar's wife falsely-accuses joseph of attacking her, and he is sent to a dungeon.
again, at this point, joseph has earned the right to have a bad attitude-
all he did was a great job, and it landed him in a dungeon.
but instead, he has a great attitude.
he makes up his mind to be the best prisoner he can be and he is put in charge of the prison.
he even chooses to be friendly to the other prisoners.
one of his friends was released and promised to put in a good word for joseph, but he forgot. and joseph stayed in there for several more years.
again, he earned his right to be negative-
but instead, is gracious to the pharaoh when he is finally released.
the pharaoh put him in charge of all of Egypt- and he made the pharaoh richer and more powerful than ever.
and when joseph had the power to get revenge on his brothers, he showed grace-
that is a great attitude.
a lot of times we are convinced that we have earned the right to be rude, or to complain, or to be bitter, but none of us have dealt with what joseph dealt with; and if he found a way to do his best and be a likeable person in the situations that he faced, then surely we can choose to have a great attitude in the trials that we endure.
a couple of things that I notice about joseph are:
:: his bosses liked him. they like having his close to them. what did he do to inspire that kind of confidence and trust? how can we learn from that?
:: joseph gave it his very best at whatever he did. whether it was running a dungeon, or running the Egyptian empire, he gave it his very best.
:: as far as I can see, we have no record of joseph ever complaining or blaming anyone for his circumstances. in the situations that we find him being rude to his brothers, its all a part of the act that he puts on to be reunited with his father and with his brother Benjamin. instead, he just does his job with excellence, kindness and grace.
:: we have all heard that phrase, “you can be bitter or you can be better.” joseph didn’t just say that, he lived it. he forgave the people that hurt him and then chose to bless them and share his wealth with them. when he father two sons, he named them Manasseh, and Ephraim; whose names mean, “I forgot” and “fruitful.” in other words, “I’m letting go and choosing to grow.” and all of this was before he was reconciled with his brothers. amazing.
this is the kind of person that I want to be: forgiving, gracious, likeable, trustworthy and with a great attitude. hopefully I don’t need to go what joseph went through to get there.
God is love.
-rev-rob
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