Common Sense VI: The Life of Joseph

We live in a world where the majority of young people do not think about the future (their future or the future of others) and they live for themselves by living for the moment. They listen to music with words like, “if it feels good then do it”. They are constantly bombarded with this message from every angle, because of the evil that is portrayed in the mass media. Many of the young people today lack common sense because of this live for yourself alone attitude. In this article I would like to examine the life of a young man who had common sense and because of his common sense he changed the world. When most people hear the name Joseph, from the Biblical perspective, they immediately associate him with dreams and a multi-colored tunic. There is so much more to this young man than this and we will learn that by looking at his life.

1. Joseph had common sense because he had a relationship with God. Joseph was raised on the teachings of his father, Jacob, who was the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham. Abraham is the only personage in the Bible who is described as God’s friend. This personal relationship that Abraham had with God was passed on to his son, Isaac, and then from father to son until we get to Joseph, who also has a personal relationship with God. We see Joseph’s relationship with God through the repeated phrase, “The Lord was with Joseph”. Also when Joseph is placed in a situation to choose between sin and obedience, he chooses obedience because he does not want to sin against God, his friend. Many people today do not have common sense because they do not have a relationship with God. The reason that they do not have a relationship, for the most part, is because they have never been taught how, or they have been taught how but they choose to reject the teaching. It is obvious to see a person who does not have a relationship with God because he lacks common sense. When he is put in a situation to choose between sin and obedience he usually chooses sin. He does not mind sinning against God because God is not his friend.
2. Joseph proved his common sense through his lifestyle of obedience. He was obedient to both God and his father. When his father sent him to check on his brothers and take them food and drink, he never hesitated to complete the task. He never complained or objected even though he probably could have argued his case. These are the same brothers who constantly picked on him and actually they despised him. He went above and beyond the task assigned to him because he was an obedient person. How many young people are like that today? Are you a person who obeys his parents at all times? Do you complain and argue your case or do you complete the tasks that are assigned to you? If you do as Joseph did then you prove that you are a person who has common sense. Joseph did not just half way do things in order to get it done. He was a diligent worker. He searched for his brothers when they were not in the place where his father sent him. He could have easily gone home telling his father that he went where he said and did his job. He asked around to find his brothers’ location and traveled a great distance to get to them.
3. Joseph was stable in all his ways, demonstrating the presence of common sense in his life. At the beginning of his life, when he was a teenager, at a high point in his life, he was obedient to both God and to his parents. After he was sold into slavery, finding himself at a low point in his life, he remains faithful to God by refusing to have sexual relations with a married woman although he was begged day after day. Some people seem to be faithful to God until something does not go their way, then they get upset with God and in order to show their anger they sin against Him willfully. Joseph was innocent but sold into slavery where in all likelihood, would never be able to marry and have sexual relations with his wife. He still chose to remain faithful to the Lord. After this incident, Joseph finds himself at the lowest point of his life, wrongfully accused of a crime and placed in prison being an innocent man. While in prison he remains faithful to God and actually encourages the other prisoners by telling them about his God. After two full years in prison Joseph finds himself at the highest point of his life. While being the right hand man of Pharaoh, the number two person in the entire land of Egypt, Joseph still remains faithful to God by thinking of others and how he can serve them. Many people are faithful to God until they get a position of authority and then it seems that they just forget about God and being obedient to Him. Joseph, on the other hand, is stable at all times remaining faithful to God in every situation.
4. Joseph once again demonstrated hi common sense by not returning evil for evil but by repaying evil with good. His brothers hated him and sold him into slavery although he was innocent and had not done anything wrong. While in slavery he was wrongfully accused of a crime and put into prison being an innocent man. Once he was raised to number two in the entire land under Pharaoh, he did not repay his brothers for their evil actions with evil but he repaid them with good. Also he did not take revenge on Mrs. Potipher, who wrongfully accused him of trying to rape her and had him thrown into prison. How many people in our day and time would love to be in Joseph’s situation at the end so that they could give the brothers and Mrs. Potipher what they deserved? A person with common sense do not repay evil with evil but with good.
5. Joseph proved his common sense because he thought of others and how he could help them. Once he knew that a famine was coming he immediately began to take action, storing up food for the difficult times ahead. He could have waited and lived for himself, indulging in the pleasures of life for a while. Do not forget that he just got out of prison and slavery, a period of time of about 13 years. What would you have done in your first few months of freedom? Many prisoners cannot wait to get out so that they can go indulge in the pleasures that they could not have while in prison. Joseph was not like that. Once the famine came Joseph used the food that he had stored up in order to save lives in the land of Egypt. He also saved the lives of his family members and his native nation from destruction, the nation from which the Messiah, the Savior of the world, was to come. Joseph did not stop there; he saved the surrounding nations and the entire known world. His ideas on economy are still taught and used today.

Dear friend, are you a person like Joseph, full of common sense? His common sense started in his teenage years. Do you have a personal relationship with God, being obedient to Him at all times? Are you obedient to your parents? Doyou think of others or yourself only? Do you seek revenge or do you seek to repay evil with good? You can also have common sense like Joseph, just turn to God at all times the way that Joseph did and watch and see what happens?