Joseph, blessings of the firstborn

    In years past as we've studied the story of the 12 tribes of Israel a part of me felt bad for the children of Jacob who didn't receive their birthright. I could sort of understand why they would be so mad at Joseph for his dreams and airs when as the second to youngest son he shouldn't have gotten all that the other siblings wanted. Then in institute we talked about how none of the older sons of Abraham's descendants (Ishmael, Esau, Reuben) received the birthright because it wasn't solely about birth order, it was also about being the covenant son. Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph were the first born of the covenant wife (well in Jacob's case Esau sold his birthright for lentil soup). Heavenly Father knows how important the covenant is and it out ranks birth order.

     After coming to realize the importance of the covenant birth order I was a little bit more okay reading the story of Joseph, yet I still felt bad for his siblings missing out on most of their blessings that are instead given to Ephraim and Manassah, then I read the full story of Joseph's siblings and it clicked. When the going got tough, when each of the siblings faced temptation Joseph was the one who acted as a child of the covenant and ran away from temptation and sin, for the most part his siblings did not, instead they fell prey to fornication and committed murder for honor. Joseph and his posterity received the covenant not only because he was the first born of Rachel the covenant wife, but also because he acted as a child of the covenant, he fled from Potiphar's wife, he took on the responsibility of the prison, he taught the truth Heavenly Father gave him, and he forgave his brothers for selling him into slavery. He acted as a covenant keeper so he could receive the covenant to keep through eternity.

   At my cousin's sealing on Friday my sister leaned over and said that when we are sealed we are given all the blessings of the first born. As I thought about that I realized that the only first born in heaven is our Savior Jesus Christ, He is the only worthy and true recipient of the covenant blessings because He is the literal first born of the Father and is the only child of God who has completely and perfectly kept the covenant. Yet because of His love for us our Savior chooses to share the blessings of the first born with all of us. He offers us this gift freely, yet in order to receive the blessings of the covenant we like Joseph need to keep to the covenant path, to work with Heavenly Father to do His work and His glory and to be worthy of the blessings of the covenant. It may sound a bit harsh, but really we only have two choices, we either choose to be like Joseph and flee before temptation or become like his brothers and succumb to sin which usually only leads to greater. Yes there is repentance, that is where the Atonement of Jesus Christ is necessary, we all fall short of living like the firstborn and we all need help from time to time, but without application and obedience the Atonement can do little in our lives.

   If we hope to receive the blessings of the firstborn we must grow in stature as Joseph and Christ did, we must be willing to take on responsibility even when it feels overwhelming as Joseph and Christ did, we must be willing to sacrifice those things required of us so that we can receive a far greater reward as Joseph and Christ did, and we must be willing to forgive as they did. Once more we find another type of Christ in the Old Testament, we have another example we can follow to come closer to becoming like Christ. Might we choose the part of Joseph and receive the gifts of the firstborn by saying yes to the harder right. Joseph faced many forks in the road when he could have wondered why the Lord had turned his back on him for doing what was right, instead he saw each moment as a way to develop greater faith and to learn. Whether we face troughs of survival or swells of contentment, let us always be seeking how we can become more like the firstborn.