People Change

Do you recognize that people change... that God can do wonders in their lives? Will you let them change? Keep Reading...

Genesis 37:26-27 - Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed.

Judah devised a wicked scheme to get rid of his brother, Joseph. He wanted to kill Joseph, but didn’t want to be caught with blood on his hands. In some ways, he gave Joseph a future worse than death - to be an Ishmaelite slave. Seething with jealousy over their favored brother, the brothers agreed and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites.

Think of the intense cruelty of Judah and his brothers to their father. It was their father, Jacob, that brought great rejection into the home. And this was their moment to get even. But, of course, revenge never heals the wounding. It only leaves intense regret.

Many years later during a famine that swept the land, Jacob's family needed food from Egypt to survive. When the brothers arrived to buy grain, they were confronted by the new ruler of Egypt - their brother Joseph in disguise! To test their family loyalty, Joseph said that he would take the youngest brother, Benjamin, as a slave. At that point Judah then spoke up and offered himself to be enslaved instead of his brother. Judah had changed!

In seeing the change in his brothers, Joseph could not conceal his secret any longer. He revealed his identity while hugging and kissing his brothers. He could not hold onto the bitterness of the past any longer.

Do you give room in your heart for people to change? Or has your mind been made up that certain individuals will always be wicked? The reason that people change centers on God's mercy. He is always working to redeem the worst of us and the worst in us. Often, you don’t recognize the change in others, because you have aligned yourself with unforgiveness. Even if real change is evident, you won’t see it with bitterness blocking your vision.

People change, because God is alive. You have changed because of his mercy. Will you pray for change, rather than hold onto unforgiveness?