Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright.
GENESIS 25:34
Whenever I am home in Sydney, I always drop in to chat with my mother for hours on end and, of course, to eat. No one cooks like my momma, and no one mothers me like my momma.
While eating a bowl of lentil soup (did I mention how yummy it was?), I thought about the moment when Esau sold his birthright to Jacob over one meal of lentil stew and bread.
In ancient times the birthright was very important and sacred. Esau took something holy and good and treated it with contempt; he profaned it. He had a lack of reverence and respect for the things of God. He so devalued his birthright that he sold his inheritance to gratify a temporary hunger.
I wonder how many times in our own lives we give up our spiritual inheritance because we want some short-term gratification? Are there areas in our own lives where we are not willing to wait, obey, pray, yield, sacrifice, commit, serve, forgive, and love? Instead, for the equivalent of a bowl of lentil stew, do we compromise, disobey, succumb, rush, and react?
I pray today that we choose a hunger for God over a hunger for the things of this world. Our destiny and inheritance is worth so much more than temporary carnal pleasures.
DO NOT settle for anything less than God’s best. Do not sell out!
MOMENT OF REFLECTION
Can you identify any areas in your life where you are selling out to short-term gratification because you have been unwilling to wait for God to come through?