Joseph: Breaking Negative Perceptions of Young People

Youth is the phase when teenagers learn to live independently and search for their identity. You begin stepping out from under the protection of parents or older guardians. Perhaps you study in another city, or have already been asked to work to help support your family’s finances.

During this period, young people do and explore many things to their heart’s content, before deciding what they want to pursue in life later on. At times, you may reject other people’s involvement. Not because you are arrogant, but because you want to fully explore your potential so that later you will be ready to enter adulthood.

Perhaps that is why youth is often associated with unstable emotions, narrow thinking, and a tendency to be easily influenced. But is it true that young people cannot be an inspiration to others or be unwise in their actions?

4 Extraordinary Qualities of Joseph

At the age of seventeen, when Joseph’s world was at its most beautiful, as the favored son, wearing the beautiful robe his father had given him (Genesis 37:3)he certainly did not expect that his life’s path would be filled with intrigue and severe trials.

Because they were jealous of their father’s love for him, his brothers threw Joseph into a well, then sold him to Midianite traders. Joseph was then taken to Egypt (Genesis 27:36) and put to work in the house of Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh’s guard. In that distant foreign land, Joseph was all alone and did not know a single person there.

In the Bible, it is not recorded whether Joseph cried, reflected on his fate, was afraid, despaired, or gave up when he was trapped in the well and sold as a slave. We only know that: But the LORD was with Joseph, so that he became a successful man; and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master (Genesis 39:2).

Here are 4 extraordinary qualities Joseph showed as a young man of faith:

1. Having Integrity in the Lord

While working in Potiphar’s house, Joseph did not pity himself or mourn his life. He was not lazy, much less did he harbor bitter resentment. Instead, he showed diligence, faithfulness, devotion, honesty, and great integrity in the Lord.

So he left all that he had in Joseph’s charge, and with Joseph there he concerned himself with nothing except the food he ate. Now Joseph was well-built and handsome. – Genesis 39:6

How is your attitude in your work or studies? Do you often come late to the office or campus? Fail to finish assignments on time and be lazy? Work only to earn a salary, not with devotion and sincerity? Be dishonest or cheat in doing your work?

Even though you are still young, have integrity in your work and studies. In this way, you display the character of the God you worship.

For what I eagerly expect and hope is that I will in no way be ashamed, but that with full courage, now as always, Christ will be openly honored in my body, whether by my life or by my death. – Philippians 1:20

2. Hating Sin

Joseph showed mature self-denial and self-control, sincere devotion, and fear of God when Potiphar’s wife persuaded him to sleep with her (Genesis 39:8-9). He risked everything to avoid sinning against his master and against God. Whatever the situation and whatever the temptation, Joseph did not hesitate to live in purity and guard holiness.

If you fear God, you will have good self-denial and self-control. This will make you hate and avoid sin, no matter how small it may be.

And do not offer the members of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness, but offer yourselves to God as those who were once dead but now are alive. And offer the members of your body to God as instruments of righteousness. – Romans 6:13

3. Caring for Others

Even though he was imprisoned for a crime he did not commit, Joseph continued to believe and hope in the Lord. Even though God’s plans and promises seemed far away, he did not lose heart.

Therefore the prison warden put all the prisoners in the prison under Joseph’s care, and he was the one responsible for everything done there. – Genesis 39:22

At first glance, Joseph’s life seemed to be going outside his plan. He was hated by his brothers, became a slave in a foreign land, was slandered, and was imprisoned. Could God be at work in his life that seemed so broken?

Yet Joseph’s faith did not waver. On the contrary, he showed concern for Pharaoh’s servants who were detained together with him in prison.

When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were troubled. Then he asked Pharaoh’s palace officials who were detained with him in his master’s house, “Why do your faces look so downcast today?” – Genesis 40:6-7

When you are going through life’s difficulties, do you still believe that God is still at work in every situation and problem? Do you think only about yourself? Or do you still love and care for others?

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God our Father. – Colossians 3:17

4. Forgiving Wholeheartedly

After interpreting Pharaoh’s dream and the dreams of the two palace officials, Joseph was released from prison. At the age of thirty, his fate changed. From a prisoner, he became the second most powerful man in Egypt (Genesis 41:46).

Nine years later, Joseph met his brothers again. That means more than two decades had passed since they sold him as a slave.

As a man in authority (Genesis 42:6), Joseph could have taken revenge and settled the score. This was his golden opportunity! Yet Joseph chose to forgive and welcome them with open arms. He even comforted his ten brothers who felt guilty toward him.

Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me.” So they came near. Then he said, “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. But now, do not be grieved or blame yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me ahead of you to preserve life. – Genesis 45:4-5

His brothers also came themselves and fell down before him and said, “We have come to be your slaves.” But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? You intended evil against me, but God intended it for good, in order to accomplish what is now being done, to preserve the lives of many people. – Genesis 50:18-20

At a young age, Joseph proved that he had integrity in his work, fear of God, concern for others, and a forgiving heart. Especially toward the people who had made his life suffer. Through Joseph, God showed that He is able to turn sorrow into joy. To change a life that seems ruined into a life full of abundance.

Let no one look down on you because you are young. Be an example to the believers in your speech, in your conduct, in your love, in your faithfulness, and in your purity. – 1 Timothy 4:12

Joseph’s story silences every negative perception about young people. Let us imitate the qualities in his character. Do not make your youth an excuse or an obstacle to glorifying God. We too can be like Joseph!