My New Testament Joseph by Alexander
Smiley from The Secret Place, 1907 The chief butler, however,
did not remember Joseph. He forgot him. Genesis chapter
40 verse 23. 1. Was it simply that the butler
was absorbed in the affections of home and the duties of business? Through his imprisonment he had
been bereft of the touch of a wife's hand and the kiss of a child
on lip and cheek. His occupation was in danger
to going to another and his prosperity of being lost. It was scarcely
surprising that the treasures so nearly forfeited should engross
him whence they were restored. But home is at its best when
I am full of the recollection of my New Testament Joseph, and
the wheels of business never run so pleasantly as then. I gain by thinking first of him. Was it that at Pharaoh's court
the butler was afraid to speak of his obligation to a Hebrew
slave? Doubtless the stranger had conferred
a measureless blessing on him, but among the lords and ladies
of Egypt it required great courage to tell out frankly his indebtedness
to an alien and a prisoner. Just so, Christ in many circles
is almost a forbidden theme. He is not fashionable in the
mirthful world. There are masters of culture
and leaders of society who pass him contemptuously by. In such
surroundings, am I brave enough to be his enthusiast, his witness,
his champion? III. Was it that the butler felt
a kind of awe and dread when he recalled Joseph? As congenial
and brotherly as the young captive was, there was a curious separateness
about him. a noble scorn of much that the
butler might have condoned and approved, an impressiveness of
character to which he could lay little claim. It may have been
a relief to banish Joseph from thought. Just so, Jesus is holy
himself, and he demands holiness in me. I am glad of his blessings,
but I may dislike his commands. And yet the better I know them,
the more resolved I shall be to bind them on my life. Was it merely that the butler
was unthinking and heedless? But he had not been so a little
before, when the fetters lay on him and the dungeon-walls
shut him in. It does not commend him that
he could become oblivious of his friend, immediately after
that friend had lifted him into the king's palace. just so, how
greatly I am to be blamed if I fail to keep fresh and green
the memory of the mighty things which Christ has done for me.
Mine was the worst and most shameful thralldom. and His the most astonishing
emancipation. To forget the Redeemer, when
He has rescued me from deserved hell and blessed me with undeserved
heaven, there never was ingratitude so base. be thankful Hebrews
chapter 12 verse 28 it is a command which nothing must induce me
to disregard and which I must hold in constant reverence I
cannot sound the praises of my deliverer too loudly I cannot
yield myself to absolutely to him who sacrificed himself for
me you