Well, I finished reading the book of Genesis today. Joseph goes through an elaborate charade to test his brothers and see if they've changed, and it seems that they have. Without knowing he is their brother, or that he understands them, they are penitent for what they did to Joseph when they were young, and they are looking out for one another, their father, and their younger brother, rather than just themselves, and they have learned some honesty. In fact, the brothers have changed so much that Joseph breaks down, cries, and tell them who he is. He has also forgiven them, having seen and trusted God's bigger picture. Godliness can bring peace where there is conflict, it can unite families that are at war.
One other side note: in Genesis 50:11 the place where they mourned Jacob was called 'Abel Mizraim', or 'the mourning of the Egyptians'. Earlier in Genesis we aren't told what Abel's name meant, but why is it not surprising that the word for 'mourning' would be the name of the first person who was ever mourned?
Anyway, after how God has forgiven me, I ought to forgive others, as Joseph did, without demanding payment or punishment. Jesus didn't demand that we pay for our own sin, He paid for it instead so we wouldn't have to, because He loves us.
Dear God, teach me to forgive the way that You do, completely and irrevocably. Let my forgiveness not be based on someone else's worthiness, but on a heart seeking godliness, for my sake as well as theirs. Amen.
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