“Israel loved Joseph best of all his sons.” When you read that you know that trouble is coming. When someone is the favorite, the “teacher’s pet,” resentment is sure to follow. Nor is this limited to teen-age boys. When someone is on a pedestal, someone is being honored, there is a human tendency to want to knock them down a peg. There is a whole industry called opposition research to look for dirt on a prominent figure. And, of course, election campaigns nowadays are not about all the great things you are going to do but about how terrible your opponent is. As Christians we must resist this way of operating. Instead of looking for dirt let’s find something we can affirm the other about.
