With the holidays coming up it causes us to think about family doesn’t it. We go back to memories of gatherings when we were younger. While we tend to focus on the good memories it is likely that these get together’s exposed some of the issues in our families. You put a bunch of people in a confined space and mix in variables such as lost sleep or discussions on politics or religion and you had the potential for some fireworks.‌

While I’ve been stuck at home for the last week I have been re-watching one of my favorite sitcoms: The Middle. If you are not familiar with the show it is a lower middle class family in the middle of the United States and each episode we were invited into the lives of a regular family of five trying to make ends meet.‌

There have been a lot of themes that have developed for us as we have been in the book of Genesis. We are familiar with the stories but if we weren’t there are narratives that would have us on the edge of our seat. Creation followed by rebellion against a holy God but even though they deserved punishment, God showed mercy. We see the first offspring of this couple who should be the one who will be in the line to the promised messiah but instead of being holy he murders his own brother. We see an unrighteous world and the people of the promise are being polluted by sin and so God is going to destroy the world but he keeps one of the promised ones safe from the waters of the flood. We’ve even seen recently how Abraham was in some sticky circumstances usually because of his own sin but still God rescues. It is what he does.‌

In an episode of my favorite sitcom the main character purchases a large television for himself. His logic is that the size of your TV should match your age so he wanted to have one that would last him for a few years. This purchase tapped out his bank account quite a bit so he has to start telling his closest friend, who has a tendency to mooch from him, that he can’t lend him any money. He also doesn’t want to tell this friend that he has a large TV because he doesn’t want to have him stopping over at all hours to watch TV with him.

As is customary with television comedies this leads to confusion and the friends starts to tell others in their small community that his friend is poor.

We’ve all been in a position where we have to make an important decision. We weigh the options in our heads and try to do what we think is best. Inherently, we end up making decisions that are selfish. We usually look for what brings us the most happiness or what we think will benefit us the most. In most cases, there might not be anything wrong with that approach but there are times when making an important decision with our eyes on looking out for ourselves and what selfishly desire can create serious problems. I’m sure we have all been in a place where we were given and option and even though we didn’t want to come across as selfish we jumped at the opportunity anyway.

In our lives we come across obstacles that put us in a position to decide whether we are going to trust God or rely on ourselves. This happens for us not only in the big things that come at us in this life but they are also frequent in the small things. When the temptations of life come before us will we believe that what God has promised us is enough? Are we going to believe God’s law and trust that his truth is what is best for our lives? Each temptation is a crisis of faith.