Run, Run, and Run. The easiest solution to situations that can lead to sin ... don't be there. Joseph was a good example. Get out, even if you have to leave something important behind.
Don't ever think that you can handle temptation while you play around with it. You WILL be burned if you continue. Leave the party. Stop flirting with your co-worker. Get a new job if you have to. Turn off the TV. Turn off the computer.
"Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them."
It isn't very often that we get in a position to control others lives like Joseph. And Joseph forgave those who sold him as a slave and cared for them and their children. God gave his only son to be beaten beyond recognition and to death upon a cross. We were the ones who wronged God ... and yet He gives us salvation.
What a little thing for us to speak kindly to those that have harmed us.
There is a trust game that many people go through at retreats. You close your eyes and fall backwards ... trusting the person behind to catch you. I once went to a church father-n-son meeting with my dad when I was little. They did a trust game where you would hold a nail and your dad took a whack at it. Which was fine and all if your dad could swing a hammer.
Actually, my Grandpa Nilson was splitting logs at our house one summer and had me hold the wedge while he swung the sledge. I would quickly let go of the wedge right as he would swing ... "Mark, hold it still. I won't miss!" So I held still.
He nailed my hand on the first swing after that.
God calls on us to commit everything to him. Don't hold anything back from Him by trusting yourself. Like my Grandpa, I'm just a man. Flawed, weak, and prone to mistakes. So why trust in my strength? Lean on God.
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