A Cloak or Character?

            “It’s true I may be an apparent loser by declining evil company, but I would rather leave my cloak than lose my character. It isn’t necessary that I be rich, but it’s essential to me to be pure.” Charles Hadden Spurgeon.

            Spurgeon wrote this in commenting on Genesis 39:12, “He [Joseph] left his cloak in her [Potiphar’s wife] hand and ran out of the house.”

            What about this cloak? Was it the cloak he wore when sold into slavery, perhaps given to him by his brothers after they robbed him of his coat of many colors? Was it a cloak given him by the slave traders on the way to the slave market in Egypt? Or was it a cloak given to him by his master, Potiphar, as Joseph was promoted to oversee Potiphar’s household? Surely the overseer of Potiphar’s household must dress the part.

            Is it likely that Joseph regained his cloak before Potiphar delivered him to prison? We can only speculate, we don’t know. We do know Another who had his cloak stripped from Him as He was delivered to the Cross. Christ was bereft of His cloak as He endured the shame of accusation and the Cross for us. Joseph was bereft of his cloak as he endured the shame of accusation and prison for his brothers.

            Joseph could only commit his obedience to the God of his fathers as he left his cloak in the hands of evil and temptation. We cannot engage in a tugging match with temptation, we cannot attempt to compromise, we cannot seek to salvage worldly power and wealth and respectability and at the same time have our eyes fixed on Jesus Christ. We cannot serve two masters.

            As Spurgeon reminds us, it isn’t necessary that we be rich in the things of the world, but it is vital that the son or daughter of the living God be pure in Jesus Christ. We are to be holy as our Father is holy. In Jesus Christ are riches beyond measure.

            As we look back over our lives, are there times we have left our cloaks for the sake of Jesus? Are we prepared to do so today?