It's the story of Joseph and what I learnt was about excellence.

Joseph was in a jail in chapter 40. Yet we all know he prospered in there. I believe it's down to his spirit of excellence in whatever he does. And from the offset, let me redefine excellence to myself. I always thought of it as doing things as close to perfect as possible as my reasonable service to God. But since Hillsong conference, God has helped me refine that definition. To me, excellence is about doing my work to give the people I serve the best encounter of God, so that whatever glory there is, it is seen as God's. It's really about God and then people. Yup, the work bit itself doesn't even appear on the top two. And that's something new to me in excellence (especially in ministering/serving).

So Joseph was in prison, and we hear that he asked two of the prisoners under his care why were they sad. And they actually told him their problems. Firstly, this is only possible if you actually care about the people you look after. If you can actually notice their emotions and what they're going through to bring you to the step of actually asking them if everything's ok. So the excellence that Joseph had in prison that made him prosper was the his excellence service of the people he looked after. It wasn't about making sure they all ate their meals, on time, cleaned up, were respectful etc. It was about having a good relationship with the people, and taking notice of their needs and not being caught up with his own appearance before the jailer.

Secondly, he noticed that they were sad. OF COURSE PEOPLE IN PRISON ARE SAD! This other lesson we learn is that excellence in helping is just doing what is seen/circumstantial. It's not because people are sad in prison, we set them free. Neither do stressed people in exams need exam tips, or depressed people need 5 steps to overcome depression. Joseph obviously would expect people in prison to be sad, yet through the relationship he had, he noticed it wasn't the usual sadness, and he went beyond the seen circumstance to ask them what was bothering them, what the real issue was. Excellence in serving is not just about solving problems, it's meeting the needs behind the apparent problem. That's real excellence in serving.

And lastly it's the attitude in serving that must also be excellent. Joseph maintains that he has done nothing wrong to be put in prison. He isn't bitter about the situation and say that someone falsely accused me to put me in here. Instead, he views his circumstance from the viewpoint of who he was serving. He served Potiphar and to him, that was the relationship that mattered, that he had done nothing to wrong Potiphar that put him in prison. He wasn't bitter against the wife who falsely accused him but his conscience from the perspective of the master he served. Likewise, when we get into trouble or when dealing with problems, we must check ourselves from God's perspective, if we have done anything to wrong Him, rather than wrestle against flesh and blood!

Oh yeah! Now it's time to apply that to my life!