Life Is A Highway #386

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Life Is A Highway #386

If I could add one thing to Rascal Flatts’ song, “Life is a Highway,” it would be that life’s highway has many lanes and isn’t always smooth driving. There’ll be detours, potholes, construction, and even off-ramps tempting us to take a shortcut, not to mention the jealousy when we compare our car to the better one two lanes over. So today, I want to encourage you to thrive in your lane, change lanes if necessary, by showing you how Joseph did it.

Most of us have experienced a lane change we didn't ask for. A job loss, a health issue, a broken relationship, a financial setback, or simply a season that didn't go according to plan. Joseph knew exactly what that felt like because he had many lane changes in the book of Genesis.

It started early when his brothers were jealous of how their father favored him. They compared what they had to what he got, and their animosity drove them to throw him in a pit, leaving him for dead. Fortunately, he was rescued from the pit and sold into slavery. Think of those two lane changes. In one lane, he’s a prominent son, and in the next lane, he’s a slave in a foreign country. But Joseph didn’t let this road closure stop him, because soon he became in charge of his master’s house. I guess the road wasn’t closed after all. Unfortunately, not long after his promotion, others were jealous, and one tried to tempt him to leave the road he was on. Joseph held strong, though, and said, “How could I do that to the master who made me in charge? I can’t, and I won’t change lanes.” He kept going and faced the consequences.

Joseph was forced into a new lane again for the next two years. He excelled and found favor in prison, eventually taking charge as he had once before in the master’s house. While in prison, Joseph used his gifts to help others move forward, even though he remained stuck there himself. But again, just like life’s highway, when we often help someone, they forget about us as they speed by.

Fortunately, his interpretations and behavior led him to the pharaoh next. Another lane change, but after all he had been through, Joseph was unafraid to say what others wouldn’t. Words spoken in such confidence that a non-believer like Pharaoh was convinced that the Spirit of God was with Joseph. So Pharaoh changed Joseph’s status by promoting him to second-in-command of all of Egypt. Joseph relished in the new lane so much so that Pharaoh even blessed Joseph’s entire family during the famine. His walk with God was not determined by the lane of life that he was in. He knew that God had a destination for him and would not be stopped.

Remember, Joseph didn’t compare, complain, or stay a prisoner forever. Instead, he embraced lane changes, thrived in the circumstances, and made a positive impact that changed the master’s house, the pharaoh’s heart, his family, and a nation. Maybe you're in a lane right now that you never expected to be in. The good news is that God can use this lane just as powerfully as the one you thought you were supposed to be driving in. Your legacy is waiting to be lived. Will you change lanes and be like Joseph?

If you want to live a legacy from the right highway, then visit lighthouselegacies.com to learn how. Also, check out the Living Your Legacy Podcast.