not up to him to refuse). Very easy for Joseph to be totally assimilated to the Egyptian upper class society and forget the faith of his fathers. We have every reason to believe that Joseph maintained his faith and witness throughout his long tenure as the PM of Egypt. Indeed, according to the Jewish legend, Joseph not only maintained his faith, he even converted his wife Asenath from idolatry to true faith to worship the God of Israel.

We should not simply read Joseph’s life story as a recipe for success in the corporate and bureaucratic world. He had his focus to the future, through Jacob, Joseph understood and accept God’s promise to His people lies not in the green pastures of Egypt but in the promised land of Canaan, the land of milk and honey that God promised Abraham, Isaacs and Jacob. Jacob’s as the last instruction he gave to Joseph, was to ask Joseph to bury him in the cave of Ephron the Hittite, that is the ancestral land in Canaan. Likewise, Joseph on his dead bed asked his brothers to bring his bones out of Egypt (Gen 50:25).

When the author of Hebrews in the NT commended the heroes of faith in the Old Testament, when he came to Joseph, he did not praise him for his achievements, nor his ability to discern dream, nor his administrative skills, not even his ability to forgive his brothers. In the entire life of Joseph, the single incident that he singled out is the last act of Joseph, his instruction to the sons of Israel that they should bring his bones out of Egypt and the prophesy that God will bring His people out of Egypt.

Billy Graham is no doubt one of the most admired individuals in the world, one who enjoys access to many world leaders and whose opinions are regularly sought. It is quite remarkable that Billy Graham has been able to maintain such a singular focus on his work as an evangelist. Graham once commented in his autobiography that he has had a number of opportunities to become involved in television, motion pictures, or even to help in the building of a great Christian university. "But always the still, small voice has said, ’God called you to be an evangelist.’ When God calls us, we are to remain faithful."

It is very easy when we become successful in our career, when we move up the social ladder, when we get recognition, we lose sight of our calling, we lose sight of our permanent citizenship is not Australian, nor Chinese, nor Singaporean, nor Malaysian, our citizenship belongs to the kingdom of God.

All our material wealth, corporate success and achievements will one day pass away. More importantly, we need to ask ourselves the questions, have we left something that is permanent and eternal, something that is pleasing to God behind – Have we introduced someone to Jesus? Have we helped a brother (or sister) in need? Have we passed our faith on to the next generation?

At the end, the greatest success of Joseph is not so much his secular achievements, impressive as they are, but his single-mindedness to follow, to trust and to obey God, no matter what consequences and under what situation. Joseph has been an inspiration me and I pray and trust through studying his life story also be an inspiration to you. Amen.