DON’T PLAY FAVORITES

“Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.  And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.  And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more.”

Genesis 37:3-5 KJV

If we will read the story of Joseph, we will understand that we shouldn’t play favorites with our children.  Israel caused a lot of problems between Joseph and his brothers.  The brothers were upset and jealous because their father made Joseph a coat of many colours and didn’t make them a coat.

A mother was talking to one of her daughters and said “I don’t understand why you don’t like my good daughter”.  What the mother was saying to her daughter was she loved her sister more than she loved her.  How that must have hurt her and broke her heart because she believed her mother didn’t love her.

Not only should we not play favorites, we should be a Joseph because in the end Joseph forgave his brothers even after everything they did to him.  What a beautiful reminder that God forgives us even after the things we do that hurt Him and break His heart.  We have a loving forgiving Heavenly Father.

Joseph forgave his brothers and he also kissed them to prove to them he had forgiven them.  “And he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck.  Moreover he kissed all his brethren, and wept upon them: and after that his brethren talked with him” (Genesis 45:14,15).

Joanne Lowe

June 27, 2015