Devotion - Monday, February 8

Genesis 25:19-34 contains the early stories of Esau and Jacob. Recorded here are their births, and the note that one was pleasing to mom, the other to dad. By the end of the reading, we are to that infamous event in which Esau returns from the fields to find his younger brother cooking. Famished, Esau asks for some pottage.

“First sell me your birthright,” Jacob asks. “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” Esau replies.

When we retell this story in Sunday school, we are more inclined to speak Jacob as the actor. We speak of his “stealing the birthright of his older brother.” This is not the summation offered in the Genesis. Verse 34 reads, “Thus Esau despised his birthright.”

“Despised” is a rather strong word. But what happens deserves strong words. Esau was entitled to inherit all that his father possessed. (Inheritance laws were quite different in this culture at this time.) Esau knew this, so did Jacob. Esau had been promised to receive it all. And yet, he thumbed his nose at it. He turned his back on it. For the sake of that which was immediate he gave it all away.

He was young. Long-term gratification is a difficult concept. We see this kind of behavior all the time.

The story in the Bible certainly illustrates how destructive it is to lack a vision for the long-term. The one who gives up his birthright for a moment of satisfaction is spoken of in the most unkind words.

We must always be on guard against sort-term gratification; particularly when it has long-term consequences. We cannot allow the pleasure of the moment to forsake that which is our birthright.

In our baptism God promised us everything; we are valued, we are appreciated, we are accepted. This is our birthright. How sad it is when those who have this birthright risk it for the sake of a short-term promise. The culture around us would offer us many trinkets. But as the country-western song points out, “Everything that glitters is not gold.”

Hold on to your birthright. It is worth a whole lot more than those who would encourage you to trade it in are able to pay.