Hey my friend welcome to the latest edition of my newsletter, thanks for being here! If this blesses you, share it with someone who needs it. They can sign up free at thelowkeychristian.com/newsletter. God bless you, now let's get into it.
This week's theme: Forgiveness.
Yesterday we talked about forgiveness as a weight you were never meant to carry. Today we're looking at a man who was given every reason in the world to never forgive anyone again. And what he chose instead.
THE MAN WHO FORGAVE EVERYONE
Joseph's life was a series of betrayals.
His brothers hated him so much they threw him in a pit and discussed killing him. They decided to sell him into slavery instead. He was 17 years old.
He ended up in Egypt working for a man called Potiphar. Things were starting to go well. Then Potiphar's wife falsely accused him of trying to assault her. He was thrown into prison. For something he didn't do.
In prison, he helped a man interpret a dream. The man promised to remember Joseph when he got out. He didn't. Joseph was forgotten in that prison for two more years.
By the time we meet adult Joseph again, this is what his life looked like: betrayed by his own family, falsely accused by his employer, forgotten by someone he helped. He had every reason on earth to be the bitterest man alive.
Then God lifted him up. Through a series of impossible events, Joseph went from prison cell to second-in-command of all Egypt overnight.
And then the moment came. The famine hit. His brothers, the ones who sold him, the ones who threw him in a pit and then ate lunch while he cried for help, walked into his throne room. They didn't recognise him. He could have done anything. Executed them. Imprisoned them. Tortured them. He had the power.
What did he do?
"You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives."
He forgave them. Fed them. Reunited them. Wept on their necks.
How? How does someone who's been through what Joseph went through forgive that completely?
Here's what I see when I read this story. Joseph didn't forgive his brothers because what they did was OK. It wasn't. He didn't forgive them because they deserved it. They didn't. He didn't forgive them because the pain had magically disappeared. It hadn't.
He forgave them because he refused to let what they did dictate the rest of his life.
That's the part most of us miss about forgiveness. We think forgiveness is about the person who hurt us. It's not. It's about us. It's about whether we're going to let their actions write our story or whether we're going to let God do that.
Joseph understood something that took me years to learn. Unforgiveness gives the person who hurt you a permanent role in your story. Every time you replay what they did, they get to hurt you again. Every time you carry the resentment, they're still living rent-free in your head. They've already taken enough from you. Don't give them your future too.
Joseph's brothers couldn't believe his forgiveness was real. They thought it was a trick. They thought once their father died, Joseph would finally take his revenge. So they came back, terrified, throwing themselves at his feet.
And Joseph wept again. Not because they hurt him. Because they still didn't understand grace.
He said this:
"Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God?"
That's the key right there. Am I in the place of God?
When we hold onto unforgiveness, we're trying to be God. We're trying to be judge, jury, and executioner. We're trying to balance the scales that only God can balance. And it never works. It just exhausts us.
Forgiveness is the moment you take your seat off the throne and let God sit there instead.
YOUR ONE THING FOR TODAY
Think of one person who has been living rent-free in your head. Someone you replay arguments with. Someone whose face still makes your chest tighten. You don't have to text them. You don't have to call them. You don't even have to forgive them yet. Just say out loud: "God, You're the judge. Not me. I'm taking my hands off this." That's the beginning. It doesn't fix everything. But it opens the door.
God, I've been trying to be the judge of someone who hurt me. I've been replaying what they did, building cases against them in my head, deciding what they deserve. And I'm tired. Today I want to give You the gavel. I'm not in Your place. I never was. Take the judgement off my shoulders. You see what I can't see. You'll do what only You can do. I'm letting go of the role I was never supposed to play. Amen.
FROM THE ARCHIVE
If you've been carrying the weight of someone else's wrong against you, I made a video called How I Defeated Fear as a Christian. It touches on what it takes to push past the things that try to keep you stuck in the past.
OVER TO YOU
Is there someone living rent-free in your head right now? You don't have to name them. Just hit reply and say "yes." Sometimes acknowledging it is the first step to evicting them. I'll be praying.
God bless you, my friend.
The LowKey Christian
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