PRESERVING the dignity and self worth of others is a vanishing cultural ethic in modern Nigeria. This good cultural inheritance of pre colonial Nigeria must be revived. Imagine how Joseph’s brothers felt when he said “It was not you who sent me here, but God, Gen. 45:8”.

Is he serious? Did God do it? This is the ancient level of forgiveness. Preserving the dignity and self worth of others is what Jehovah does for us.
With full knowledge of our sinful past, Jehovah covers us with the garment of grace. He expects us to do the same with our fellowmen and women. As you read the genealogy of Jesus Christ in Matthew Chapter one, you might think the sin of adultery between David and Bathseba was part of the divine strategy all along. But the sin never is which was why David paid a high price for it.

Yet the Bible records these events as though they were supposed to have happened in just that way. The Bible says, “Be full of love for others following the example of Christ who loved you and gave himself to God as a sacrifice to take away your sins. And Jehovah was pleased.” When you truly forgive, there is no place for self righteousness. You are able to forgive because: one, you remember what you yourself have been forgiven of.

Two, you acknowledge what you are capable of. Three, you see God’s hands at work in the bigger picture. Joseph wasn’t being condescending nor was he thinking of winning the admiration of his siblings. No, during his years in prison, God had moved on his heart and changed his attitude. So, when Joseph said, You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. Gen. 50:20. Joseph really meant the forgiveness. That kind of response takes forgiveness to a higher level.

Not only that Joseph protected them from the nightmare of having to go back and tell their ageing father what they had done twenty two years earlier. Joseph was a step ahead of them. He tells them what to say and what not to say. “Go up to my father and say to him, Thus says your son, Joseph: God has made me lord of all Egypt, come. You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near to me, you and your children. I will provide for you,” Gen. 45:9-11.

You might say: “I think they should have been forced to confess what they had done.” No, that would have given their father, Jacob, an even greater burden to bear struggling with regret over his lost years with Joseph, much less having to fight bitterness towards his other sons. Joseph was wise. This made his brothers respect him all the more. There is a big difference between confessing and dumping. Irreparable damage can be done. When you try to get relief by dumping the details of your guilt on somebody who cannot handle them.

Sometimes, confessing is the proper thing to do, but only after talking with an experienced counselor. After David sinned with Bathsheba, he wrote: “Against You God, you only have I sinned”, Psalm 51:4.

Know all about your sin yet promise to keep it a closely guarded secret, it should increase your sense of humility and gratitude or cause you to keep your mouth shut and make you refuse to hold anybody else’s sins and shortcomings over their head.

You will gain nothing by destroying the dignity and self worth of others. Your road to greatness is in never quitting your aims in life. “Commit your actions to Jehovah and your plans will succeed,” Proverbs 10:3. The moment you start believing you are successful enough to retire, you are in trouble. You have put a lid on your growth. Success is always possible, but never a guarantee. Success belongs to the man or woman who is willing to show up early, stay late, go the extra mile and keep asking. Is there a better way? An agency once created an advertisement for a car dealer. It said: At sixty miles an hour the loudest noise in this latest Rolls – Royce comes from the electric clock. When they ran the advertisement one day, the chief executive of the company smiled and said “I guess we have to do something about the clock”.

A youngman once asked the American automobile magnate, Henry Ford, “How can I make a name for myself and be successful?”
Ford replied, “decide what you want, then stick with it. Never deviate from your course no matter how long it takes or how hard the road, until you have accomplished your objective.”

Great people have one thing in common, they refuse to quit. No matter how many times they fail, they dust themselves up, learn from it and start all over again. The great industrialist, Paul Meyer said, “Ninety-nine per cent of failures are not actually defeated, they simply quit. To win, you must deny yourself those things that keep you from doing your best.