Strange Bedfellows

“My master has withheld nothing from me except you…How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God!” Gen. 19:6

This story is one of many in the Bible that is all about long running obedience above all else. It continues the story of Joseph, a servant who had been exalted above all others in Egypt, and his master’s wife. She launches a campaign to seduce, entice and sleep with him regardless of her marital status. No doubt she is used to getting everything she desires in an effort to fill her own loneliness. But this morning, our spotlight is not on the temptress but rather on her prey.

Any one of our temptresses lays on their chaise lounge luring us away from what our Master has told us and what has been forbidden for our own good. In every Christian’s life, God withholds a few things that He knows will be misused, exalted or be allowed to power over our lives. He knows perfectly what we must keep out of our lives since He is the one who created us. We must walk our spiritual journey with our commitment to God, identifying the things for which we know is a sin against God. We each have our own appetite of sin and know what our downfall could be if left unchecked. Our obedience in avoiding our seductress will be powered by our motivation to obey and respect our Master. We stand before our tempter and say the same words Joseph spoke in the presence of his temptation. We state the obvious regarding our Master… ‘Our obedience to our Master is, in part, out of gratitude for what He has done in the past, and the faith in what He will do in the future for us.’ It will not be a once and for all statement of commitment to our temptation but a daily reaffirmation to ourselves and to the world.

‘Though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.’ Gen. 29:10. Notice that after telling her over and over again he simply changed his strategy to the removal of her presence. Many times, no matter how hard we try we must surrender in totality the sin that so easily rules us. ‘…let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…’ Heb. 12:1-2.

God gave us so much abundance in our lives. The success of our obedience is fixing our eyes on what has been given to us instead of what has been withheld from the Master – the victory is in the focus.