In the closing verse of Genesis chapter 25 we read that Esau despised his birthright. Do we? Do we despise the ways of God ? Do we despise his order, his plan and purpose ? Esau was the eldest and thereby entitled to inherit his father’s estate. But in a fit of desperate desire he was easily manipulated by his calculating and self serving brother, Jacob, to barter his advantage away for immediate gain. A mere meal. A one off event. A transitory satisfaction.
We can so easily do the same. The flesh in us demands immediate satisfaction. But in satisfying those immediate urges we end up sacrificing the superior and vital life of the Spirit.
The fleshly, self life is merely material and demanding. This world revolves around the merely material and despises everything associated with a godly life – the life imparted by the Holy Spirit to the repentant and obedient to Christ.
What we must particularly realise is that if we continue in fleshly ways and habits, we will exclude the life of God within us, and we will develop and learn bad habits. Esau was manifestly someone who saw only his immediate need and gain; he clearly had never learned to master himself and his appetites. This habit of self indulgence led him to make such a costly mistake, despising what is of most importance. His heart was trained in greed and that mindset excluded mature and sensible reflection on the choice before him.
But Jacob’s manipulation should be a warning to us.
People who
- are not self aware, and therefore
- are not in control of themselves, and therefore
- are subject to their every inclination,
such people are wide open to abuse and manipulation by the self serving and controlling. The person who succumbs to drugs or alcohol not only becomes a slave to their appetites; worse, they become a prey and slave to those in this world who have no moral scruples and will use the foolish, selfish and unwitting for their evil ends.
This incident between two brothers way back in the past remains incredibly relevant and instructive to every day life today. Vitally so.
DON’T IGNORE IT !
Christianity 