Suppose you were Joseph. Could you have waited such a long time? As the ruler, Joseph could have done what was necessary to have his father brought to him immediately. But he disciplined his brothers for their good at the sacrifice of his own enjoyment of seeing his father. I repeat, Joseph was a sober, disciplined person. His personal temperament and sentiment were absolutely controlled by life. He did not go along with his own feelings. Instead, his sentiments were under the control of resurrection life.

All those who take the lead in the church need such a life. Without this kind of life we do not know how to help others. If we do not have such a life, we shall contact people according to our feelings, according to whether we are happy or sad. But Joseph did not deal with his brothers according to his sentiments, but according to their need. If he had acted according to his desire to see his father, he would have had his father brought to him immediately. But in order to discipline his brothers, he delayed his enjoyment of seeing his father for at least six months. He sacrificed his enjoyment of the immediate presence of his father for his brothers' good.

Apparently Joseph was treating his brothers in a rough way. As the nine brothers were returning home, they might have said, "My, that man really was rough with us! How he mistreated us! We were not only misunderstood by him, but also mistreated." When they returned to their father, they did not return joyfully, although they had the food they required. Then they told their father the sad story of what had happened to them in Egypt. They did not realize that Joseph loved them in a hidden way. As we have seen, he loved them in a secret way by restoring their money and by affording them sufficient provision for their journey. Joseph had no thought of revenge. He considered only what would be good for his undisciplined brothers. Even in the enjoyment of the fulfillment of his dreams, he was not selfish. He did not care for himself, but for his brothers, and he paid a great price to perfect them.

Those who take the lead among the children of God need to learn this lesson. We should not contact the saints in the church life according to our sentiments, but according to their need. Like Joseph in his dealing with his brothers, we should be neither strict nor loose in contacting the saints. Do not think that Joseph was strict with his brothers. He was sober in dealing with them in order to perfect them, but he was not strict with them. Neither was he loose, saying, "I forgive you all. I don't care about what you did, for I know that God sent me here. Let us just praise the Lord." If Joseph had treated them like this, there would have been no perfection.

According to his natural being, it was difficult for Joseph to put his brothers into prison for three days. He simply was not that kind of person. For him to do this was to go against his good nature. Nevertheless, in order to meet his brothers' need for discipline, he did this. In the church life we should not always be so kind. At certain times the leading ones need to be rough and tough. However, if you are rough with someone, you need to be rough in the right way. Otherwise, your toughness will kill him. The point here is that we should not deal with others according to our temperament, sentiment, or natural being. Neither should we deal with them according to our own enjoyment. Rather, we must contact others according to their need. Perhaps Joseph said to himself, "For the sake of my brothers, I must be tough and talk to them in a rough manner. I must put them into prison for three days." Like Joseph, we all must learn to deal with others according to their need and not according to our feelings.