Role Play

Today’s application is drawn from Genesis 40-41.

“Then it came to pass, at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh had a dream;” – Genesis 41:1a

Joseph helped Pharaoh’s butler while they were both in prison together by giving the butler the correct interpretation of a mysterious dream. Joseph then asked the butler to tell Pharaoh that Joseph was falsely accused, but when the butler was released he forgot for a full two years until Pharaoh had a dream of his own that needed interpreting.

This course of events led to Joseph being put into power over the entire kingdom, second only to Pharaoh, and gave Joseph the ability to save his family from the upcoming famine.

Every stage of Joseph’s life was equally important to God; when he was a child in his father’s house; when he was working for his first master, Potiphar; when he was falsely accused and thrown in prison; and when he served as second-in-command over all of Egypt.

It’s hard not to see certain roles as more important than others, but we see things so much differently than God does. He desires faithful servants who serve happily in whatever role he places us in. He wants servants who are patient and don’t demand to have better titles. He wants followers who will serve with all their hearts in the smallest of things.

In a play certain characters are given the role of king and others are given the role of servant. How do you tell which is more important? Not by their title, but by how many lines they have.

Let us strive for more lines, not better titles.

Every time we speak truth to someone we’re giving ourselves more lines. Every time we pray we’re giving ourselves more lines. Every time we do something for God we’re giving ourselves more lines.

There is no better way to serve God than to embrace the role he has given us.

Lord, help me to be content and and even embrace the roles you give me. Help me to not wish for a better title, but to see to take the role you have given me to the limit of its capacity. Thank you for allowing me to serve you today.

Please leave comments with your thoughts on the following questions or feel free to respond to anything else that comes to mind. You can leave comments by clicking the tweet button at the top of this article or you can click the comments link below. Whatever you tweet will be added to the disscussion of this post.

Have the roles that God has called you to changed over the years? How so?
How can we change our way of thinking so that we strive for more lines in God’s kingdom instead of better titles?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 17th, 2010 at 7:13 am. It is filed under Bible Studies, Most Popular and tagged with faith, following god, greatness, happiness, leadership, patience, provision, reputation, service, testimony, trials, trust, worship. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.