It Only Takes One

It Only Takes One

Genesis 45:14-15 (NASB)

14 “Then he [Joseph] fell on his brother Benjamin's neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck.

15 He [Joseph] kissed all his brothers and wept on them, and afterward his brothers talked with him.”

    In 1952, songwriters Al Hoffman and Dick Manning composed a song that was popularized by the legendary singer, Pearl Bailey: “Takes Two to Tango.” Since then, the phrase “it takes two to tango” has become a metaphor for the necessity of cooperation between two or more parties.

    In relationships, divisions and arguments take two parties. But it only takes one of the parties to stop the destructive “dance” and initiate a reconciliation. The apostle Paul highlighted that responsibility when he wrote, “as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men” (Romans 12:18).

    Joseph took on that responsibility in Egypt when he decided it was time to heal the rift between himself and his brothers. He revealed his identity to them and assured them that there were no hard feelings for what they had done to him twenty years earlier. Their tearful reconciliation proved that it only takes one person to build the bridge that can bring warring parties together.

    Are you involved in a destructive “dance”? Can you be the one to “live peaceably” and reach out for reconciliation? It only takes one.

    G. Campbell Morgan said, “Forgiveness is to be set loose from sins.”