Friday: Further Thought ~ Finding Rest in Family Ties

Further Thought:

In the context of what happened to Joseph with Potiphar’s wife, Ellen White wrote: “Here is an example to all generations who should live upon the earth. … God will be a present help, and his Spirit a shield. Although surrounded with the severest temptations, there is a source of strength to which they can apply and resist them.

Image @ Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

How fierce was the assault upon Joseph’s morals. It came from one of influence, the most likely to lead astray. Yet how promptly and firmly was it resisted. … He had placed his reputation and interest in the hands of God. And although he was suffered to be afflicted for a time, to prepare him to fill an important position, yet God safely guarded that reputation that was blackened by a wicked accuser, and afterward, in his own good time, caused it to shine. God made even the prison the way to his elevation. Virtue will in time bring its own reward. The shield which covered Joseph’s heart, was the fear of God, which caused him to be faithful and just to his master, and true to God. He despised that ingratitude which would lead him to abuse his master’s confidence, although his master might never learn the fact.” — Ellen G. White, The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 1, p. 132.

Discussion Questions:

Being a nominal Christian or a cultural Adventist will not help us to find rest in our relationships. What are the differences between a “cultural” Adventist and a true believer?
Sister X has just joined the church. She is married to a non-believer. She loves her husband, but he doesn’t love the changes he sees in her. What would be your counsel, based on biblical principles, to your new church member?
Russian author Leo Tolstoy wrote: “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” All families, to one degree or another, suffer dysfunction, because all are made of sinners, each one bringing their own dysfunction into the family relationship. How can each one of us, by God’s grace, seek to follow biblical principles of love, forgiveness, burden-bearing, and so forth to bring some healing to our family relationships?
So many people have had the experience of things going well for them and their family when, suddenly, unexpectedly, tragedy strikes. At times like this, why is clinging to faith, clinging to the promises in the Word of God, so crucial? Especially when times are good, why is it important to be prepared, spiritually, for bad times?

<–Thursday

Amen!