July 27.
Conserving Your Character

Genesis 39:23

…the Lord was with him, and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper.

Joseph is a young man who stood firmly committed in spite of temptation. Unlike some other men, he did not yield to a woman. Admittedly he lost several things. Right away, he lost his reputation. Most of us get hung up on our reputation. I want to tell you that your reputation doesn’t mean much. But if you lose character, you lose your reputation. If you lose your reputation, but you’re in the favor of God, He will give you back your reputation, but if you lose your character, you’re in a mess.

Joseph also lost his job because he was the right hand man in Potiphar’s house. Some of you would rather lose your character than to lose your job. You’re dealing with situations on your job that you know are wrong. But you stay there and live in sin and do all kinds of undercover stuff just to hold on to your job. When you take a stand for the Lord, then you’ve got the Lord’s presence and power with you. God is more concerned with our character anyway than he is with our comfort. Joseph even lost his home because now he was living in jail.

Nevertheless, he was promoted while in jail. Instead of being bound in shackles, he was made a supervisor. God knew where he was carrying Joseph. You see one day Joseph would be the Prime Minister of Egypt. In order for Joseph to handle his part right, he needed to know how to survive at the lowest. He needed to understand what people were going through in their lives. If you’ve never been where I am, you don’t know what I going through. If you’ve never been hungry you don’t know how to deal with a person that has to go on without. So God took Joseph through the jailhouse. It looks as if Joseph is hemmed in, but it’s only another test. In spite of what Joseph is going through, the Lord is with him in a major way.