Disgrace For The Sake of Christ
[Moses] considered disgrace for the sake of Christ as greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. (Hebrews 11:26)
Many years after Joseph had died, a Pharoah came along who did not know about Joseph and the things that he had done for Egypt. He saw the Israelites as a threat to his people since they were growing into such a prosperous nation. To stop the growth of the Israelite nation, the Pharoah commanded the midwives to kill all the baby boys that were born to Israelite women. But the midwives did not do such a thing. Then Pharoah told his people to throw all the baby boys born to Israelite families into the Nile river. Moses was one of those baby boys that was supposed to be thrown into the Nile river. Instead, his mother put him in a basket and sent him down the river. The daughter of the Pharaoh found him and was allowed to raise him as her own.
When Moses was a young man, he killed an Egyptian for beating a Hebrew slave. Moses fled from Egypt and there God called him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. Moses could have turned back to his old life as the Pharoah’s grandson. He could have used this as his identity to make himself wealthy and powerful, but he chose to identify with the Israelite people and commanded Pharaoh to let his people go.
The writer to the Hebrews commends Moses for being willing to face disgrace, and even suffering rather than enjoy the luxuries of being Pharoah’s grandson for a little while. Moses knew that God had promised to send a savior through the Israelite people and that was worth more to him. Moses was looking ahead to his heavenly reward.
As we go through life, there may be times when we have to make a tough choice. We can choose to enjoy the pleasures of this world for a little while and escape earthly suffering and disgrace, or we can look ahead to our heavenly reward and endure the suffering for a little while. When we look at all that God does for us and has given to us, the disgrace and suffering that we might endure here on earth is of no consequence compared to the riches and blessings we will enjoy for eternity in heaven. When it comes to the point that we have to make a choice, let us choose to stand with God’s Word in the face of suffering and disgrace. Amen.
The song for today is “Living Hope” by Phil Wickham