GOD'S WORD FOR TODAY
DAILY DEVOTIONAL
GIVERS AND TAKERS
READ GENESIS 42:1 THROUGH 44:34
Jean Valjean, the hero of Victor Hugo’s epic novel Les Misérables, is a former prisoner, a pariah in nineteenth-century France. Impoverished and desperate, he steals silverware from a kind bishop who takes him in. Later, when police confront the fugitive, the bishop appears with silver candlesticks, insisting that Valjean had forgotten to take them along with his other “gifts.”
Joseph’s brothers took everything from him: his clothes, his home, his family, and even his freedom. Joseph could have retaliated, but he chose another path.
Joseph gave these instructions to the steward of his house: “Fill the men’s sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put each man’s silver in the mouth of his sack” (Genesis 44:1).
Both the bishop and Joseph reacted the way Christ would have: by forgiving the ones who wronged them and giving them the keys to a new kind of life filled not with grudges and vengeance, but with compassion and generosity toward enemies. It’s not easy; it goes against every human instinct. But if believers are willing, the Spirit can miraculously transform them from takers to givers.
Challenge for Today: Find a way to bless someone who has treated you wrong.
Quicklook: Genesis 43:24 through 44:1
DAILY DEVOTIONAL
GIVERS AND TAKERS
READ GENESIS 42:1 THROUGH 44:34
Jean Valjean, the hero of Victor Hugo’s epic novel Les Misérables, is a former prisoner, a pariah in nineteenth-century France. Impoverished and desperate, he steals silverware from a kind bishop who takes him in. Later, when police confront the fugitive, the bishop appears with silver candlesticks, insisting that Valjean had forgotten to take them along with his other “gifts.”
Joseph’s brothers took everything from him: his clothes, his home, his family, and even his freedom. Joseph could have retaliated, but he chose another path.
Joseph gave these instructions to the steward of his house: “Fill the men’s sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put each man’s silver in the mouth of his sack” (Genesis 44:1).
Both the bishop and Joseph reacted the way Christ would have: by forgiving the ones who wronged them and giving them the keys to a new kind of life filled not with grudges and vengeance, but with compassion and generosity toward enemies. It’s not easy; it goes against every human instinct. But if believers are willing, the Spirit can miraculously transform them from takers to givers.
Challenge for Today: Find a way to bless someone who has treated you wrong.
Quicklook: Genesis 43:24 through 44:1
GOD'S WORD FOR TODAY
DAILY DEVOTIONAL
GIVERS AND TAKERS
READ GENESIS 42:1 THROUGH 44:34
Jean Valjean, the hero of Victor Hugo’s epic novel Les Misérables, is a former prisoner, a pariah in nineteenth-century France. Impoverished and desperate, he steals silverware from a kind bishop who takes him in. Later, when police confront the fugitive, the bishop appears with silver candlesticks, insisting that Valjean had forgotten to take them along with his other “gifts.”
Joseph’s brothers took everything from him: his clothes, his home, his family, and even his freedom. Joseph could have retaliated, but he chose another path.
Joseph gave these instructions to the steward of his house: “Fill the men’s sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put each man’s silver in the mouth of his sack” (Genesis 44:1).
Both the bishop and Joseph reacted the way Christ would have: by forgiving the ones who wronged them and giving them the keys to a new kind of life filled not with grudges and vengeance, but with compassion and generosity toward enemies. It’s not easy; it goes against every human instinct. But if believers are willing, the Spirit can miraculously transform them from takers to givers.
Challenge for Today: Find a way to bless someone who has treated you wrong.
Quicklook: Genesis 43:24 through 44:1
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