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What’s in your family tree? 
Genesis is a record of the beginning of our family tree. The book does not spare any embarrassing details nor gloss over the failings of our ancestral heroes, as you can read in the passage below. Genesis records the kind of information the gossip tabloids thrive on: jealousy, murder, lying, betrayal, cover ups, adultery, incest, rape, revenge, war, terrorism, etc. To be honest, it is difficult to reconcile the flaws of such people like Abraham, Sarah, Issac, Rebecca, Jacob, Laban, Reuben, Judah, Tamar, and the list goes on.
As someone once said “what the Bible records and what it condones are starkly different.” The Scriptures simply tells the story both good and bad.
Adam and Eve, the first family, were created to live in eternal fellowship with their Creator. There was no sin, death, nor decay in their world; those things would be the result of rebellion against God. The story takes a drastic turn for the worse when they chose to rebel against God. 
As a result of Adam and Eve’s sin they became separated from God, the very source of all life. Like a lamp unplugged from an electrical outlet, they were unplugged from the Holy Spirit, and the lights went out. From that point forward, man and his offspring lived with a disconnect, or dysfunction, resulting in embarrassing actions.
Thus from Genesis to Revelation we have 2 story lines: 1) Humans captive to the law of sin and death, and 2) God’s loving plan to rescue us from that curse. 
The plan: a sinless “2nd Adam,” fully God and fully man, Jesus (Jehovah saves), would come to fulfill the just demands of the law for us. He would rescue us from the curse of the law of sin and death, allowing us, once again, to be reconnected to the Holy Spirit, the source of eternal life.
Genesis 38:12-30 records the lives of just 3 people in Jesus’ family tree who were part of God’s plan. The story in a strange sense, gives me hope, especially when I put the c, l, a, and y, in the word “dysfunctional. I’m once again reminded that God’s grace is not based on human performance, but on God’s love for us.

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