Do you have time for others?

Gen 40:8-9 And they said unto him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to God? tell me them, I pray you. And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph…

Philippians 2:3-4 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

There are many things in the story of Joseph that amazes me. One of them is his interest in the dreams of the butler and the baker. You have to remember the surroundings and situation Joseph was in. He was in prison, accused of a terrible crime. His brothers had rejected him, and sold him as a slave. He could have said that I have more than enough myself to worry about. I don’t have time or strength to be interested in someone else’s dream. Besides, I am not so sure I believe in dreams anymore. Look where my dream has got me. But Joseph, still believed in his own dream. And he still believed in dreams. And he was willing to put his own dream aside for a moment to listen and pay interest in someone else’s dream. Here is the interesting part: If Joseph had not interpreted the Butlers dream, he would not have remembered by the butler when Pharaoh had his dream. The truth is that because Joseph interpreted the Butlers dream that opened up the door for Josephs own dream to be fulfilled. What can we learn from this?

If you invest in someone else’s dream, that might open up doors for your own dream to come true. If you put others first, God will honor that and bless you also. Pastor Gøran Andreassen

Additional scriptures for further study: Genesis 40:3-41:57; Proverbs 3:27; 11:25; 14:21, 29:18; Isaiah 58:10-11; Matthew 25:35-40; Acts 20:35; Romans 15:1; Galatians 6:9; Ephesians 2:10; Philippians 2:1-8; Hebrews 6:10; James 2:14-17.