Gamble It All Away

If you were going to inherit the entire earth, would you trade it away for a plate of spaghetti? If you were going to receive a free gift, say like the gift of eternal life, would you trade it away for chicken noodle soup?

It might be so easy to look at Esau and think, "What a bonehead." He trades his birthright away for a bowl of stew. The birthright which would have given him a special relationship with God, unique responsibilities as the head of the family and a double portion of the inheritance. And he trades it away for stew.

While that is a bonehead move, don't we do the same? We trade away what God has so richly blessed us with through Christ, for temporary things. Hebrews 12 teaches that we are God's first born. Through Christ, God has richly blessed us. Blessings that include, forgiveness of sin, grace and the gift of heaven (eternal life). And we have all that to look forward to, but we often trade it for money, sex or a promising career. Sometimes we even trade it away for a good cause or for being a good parent. So we trade away what Christ offers us, for the temporary pleasures of this.

What does it profit a man if he gains the entire world and loses his soul?

Maybe we are more like Esau than we want to admit at times.

I say all that to say, "Stop being a bonehead."

Created almost 2 years ago