An article written by my father, the Rev. C. Thomas Paige, as it appeared in the Tri-State Defender on the date shown.
Continuing our general theme “Ordeals That Make Men Grow,” we find ourselves this week discussing the life of Joseph. This familiar life deals with one who in the sight of his brothers, had the misfortune of being his father’s favorite son.
This was bad enough but to add to this, the idea of him being a dreamer was more than his brothers could bear.
Due to no fault of his own, his father had made for him a coat of many colors, which set him off and above the rest of his brothers. Then he had dreams that he told to his brothers and set himself above them. All of these things stirred up something in his brothers that made him hated by them. But Joseph’s life didn’t stop there — even after he had been sold into bondage, the king’s wife admired him to the extent that she made certain advances to him that went unheeded by Joseph. These advances went further in his life to make him unpopular.
But in the midst of all of this unpopularity Joseph nourished in his mind a mission. Being ever mindful of this, he set his heart to do the job given to him by God. Life is so designed that men must rise above those little things that will thwart their missions.
JUST HUMAN
Joseph was human just like all of us. He could easily have spent his time and his energy fighting his brothers and Potiphar’s wife, but this would have diverted his whole program. There must have been something in Joseph that made him soar above the pettiness of his brothers. It was unfortunate that he was chosen by his father as his favorite son but by the same token, there was something in him that made his father give him that selected place.
Anyone of his brothers could have had the same place but Joseph just had something that won the favor of this father. Many people, like Joseph, have favorite roles in the sight of some people, but there is no basis in Christian thinking for the rest of us to become jealous and envious because we do not have the joy of living in such a position. The challenge of the whole thing forces us to examine ourselves to the extent that we will find out what we lack and try to remedy it.
One thing that must be noticed is that his favoritism didn’t stop at his home. As a servant in the king’s palace he was above the rest of the servants. In prison, the jailer saw something in him that made him want to elevate Joseph above the rest of the prisoners. It would have been tragic had his role stopped at his home but wherever he went, people admired him.
I wonder if each of us should not reach for that same type of admiration. But suppose we do not have the ability to be admired by many. Is that reason for us to go about saying small and slight things about those who do? I would say definitely NO!
NOT PRETTY
There is something in all of us that strives to make us small. We envy those who can do something a little better than we can. The teacher who cannot teach dislikes the one who can, the preacher who can’t preach envies the one who can, the laborer who can’t labor hates the man who can go on a job and do it well.
But what does this do to you? Nothing but make you small in the sight of the better thinking people with whom you come in contact. Yes, we all have our shortcomings. There is something that prevents many of us from soaring to the places that we would like. But does putting the person in bondage who can solve our problem? I would say definitely not. What good did it do Joseph’s brothers to sell him into bondage? Not one bit. What good does it do any one to be envious, or hateful, or mean to a person who has the good fortune to rise a little higher than you? In my way of thinking, it does no good whatsoever. It only serves to make you smaller.
REPEATED TOO OFTEN
In spite of the bondage ordeal, in spite of the prison experience, Joseph went on to realize the goals set up for him by God. In spite of the pettiness of the many people today we see people going on to do those God-ordained things while many of us are left on the sideline, looking for something with which we might find fault. The lives of Joseph’s brothers are repeated far too often in the lives of far too many of us. Instead of getting on the bandwagon and pushing the man who has vision and forethought, we concern ourselves with feeble efforts to drag him down to our level.
God never design that all of us should be on the same level. Life is so designed that there must be some teachers, some preachers, some deacons, some thinkers, and some leaders with forethought. To take these people out of our society would make this a bad world. It is imperative that such people be in our midst. Those of us who find ourselves thinking like the brothers of Joseph should do all we can to catch the spirit of Joseph and, however small our contribution may be, set out with all our hearts to make this a better world.
We need more men of Joseph’s caliber.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 