Wear the Robe Your Father Gave You

I bless you to

Wear the robe your father gives you.

When Jacob played favorites

And gave his youngest boy

A fancy tunic, (Genesis 37:3)

Some say the seventeen-year-old dreamer

Should have put the garment

In the drawer,

Should have shelved the sign

Of his father’s favor

To protect him from his brothers’ ire.

But the problem wasn’t in the robe—

It was in the brothers’ hearts.

The unloved will despise the loved

Until they are loved too.

One day, Joseph’s brothers

Would watch him wear another robe

Woven in “garments of fine linen” (Genesis 41:42)—

A royal outfit from Pharaoh’s closet.

And the brothers would tremble,

Until Joseph revealed himself

And fell on his wicked brothers

With love rather than vengeance.

You can’t stop people from hating you

By denying the gifts that God gives you.

So, I bless you to wear the robe of love

That the Father gives you

And to let that mantle of grace

Stretch outward in compassion

Upon all the sinners who stumble into your presence.