Just a Mom’s View

My family and I have been watching the gameshow that Mr. Beast from YouTube has been airing weekly. I LOVE gameshows. I LOVE watching people thrive and win fun things. Wheel of Fortune? The Price is Right? Yes, please.

“Beast Games” has turned out to be both entertaining and pathetic all at once. Last week, after we watched people backstab, lie, cheat, and roll around on the floor sobbing and throwing a tantrum because they didn’t win the prize money, I couldn’t help but think of some verses I had just read from the Bible. Now, before I go on, maybe “all’s fair in love and…game shows”, but I feel like you get a big glimpse of the depravity of man when a bunch of green paper is involved. Trust me, with 5 kids in this economy, and the promise of millions at my fingertips (one of the highest offered in gameshow history), maybe I would also shed some tears. But seeing grown adults throw tantrums and their integrity out of the window reminded me of what God’s Word has to say about all of this.

I affectionately call the following verses the “middle-class prayer”.

“Remove far from me vanity and lies; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? Or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.” (Proverbs 30:8-9)

Yep. The “middle-class prayer”. The point of these verses is that both a severe LACK of wealth and a severe AMOUNT of wealth can make us focus on money so much that we forget the One our life should be built around – Jesus! So, give me that middle-class life.

We spend an exorbitant amount of our lives focused on money. “If only we had more money, we could”… fill in the blank. In this social media-driven world with its picture-perfect families living extravagantly and pressuring us to do the same, a comparison-driven life will undoubtedly be a struggle for most.

May we strive instead to “be content with such things as we have.” (Heb. 13:5) May we spend more time thanking our Lord for the innumerable and undeserved blessings He has given us.

It’s good to work! Money is necessary for survival. But may we constantly remind ourselves that it’s just paper, and we all have a limited number of days on this earth. We cannot take anything material with us when we die.

I may never get to compete in a game show or win five million dollars, but I would love to win at life. I have the hope of Heaven and the responsibility to bring as many souls with me as I can. That’s what I want to focus on, and that’s the kind of wealth I want. Satisfying, lasting, and eternal wealth.