Cherish your inheritance in Christ
I’ve often wondered how Esau, the grandson of Abraham, could trade his birthright for a measly bowl of stew. It seems ridiculous and downright primordial. Scripture says he’d been out in the wilderness hunting and came home “exhausted and hungry.” His twin brother, Jacob, known as the “deceiver”, bartered for Esau’s birthright with mere beans and barley.
“One day, when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau arrived home from the wilderness, exhausted and hungry. Esau said to Jacob, “I’m starved! Give me some of that red stew!”
“All right,” Jacob replied, “but trade me your rights as the firstborn son.”
“Look, I’m dying of starvation!” said Esau. “What good is my birthright to me now?”
But Jacob said, “First, you must swear that your birthright is mine.” So Esau swore an oath, thereby selling all his rights as the firstborn to his brother, Jacob” (Genesis 25:29-33).
At this moment, Esau chose to act impulsively rather than responsibly. He placed greater value on a bowl of stew than on his God-given birthright.
In this culture and time period, the firstborn son’s birthright meant he would eventually assume the family’s leadership role and receive a double portion of his father’s inheritance. But the story goes on to say that Esau “ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright” (Genesis 25:34).
Instead of respecting the role he’d been born into, Esau resented it. Scorned it. Despised it. And then he desecrated what was set apart by God, his birthright, with his decision. Esau wanted to do what he wanted to do, when he wanted to do it. So he gave in to a physical craving to satisfy an immediate need. This same spirit of rebellion continued into Esau’s older years, as you will see if you keep reading his story (Gen. 26:34-35).
While this seems like wild and reckless behavior—and it was—we do the same thing at times. We give value to things that really don’t matter, and we devalue, at times, the most important things.
We make a bad trade anytime we exchange our blood-bought birthright for manmade pleasures.
It’s important to notice that Esau was “exhausted and hungry” when he made this terrible decision, which is always a dangerous combination when we are tempted to sin. Instead of staying near the stew and smelling its aroma, Esau should have fled, prayed, and avoided the enticement.
Don’t trade your birthright as a believer
These were different times, for sure, but our human nature really hasn’t changed. When we are exhausted and hungry—physically, emotionally, or spiritually—we tend to operate from our flesh and impulses instead of from the Holy Spirit.
When I am “starving” for attention, distraction, validation, or regulation, I am naturally prone to grab for the more immediate but lesser relief. When I do this, I essentially trade my birthright as a believer for a quick fix that may satisfy in the moment but will not sustain for the long haul. Something that may seem sweet in the present will soon turn bitter with time.
When I look to the world for attention instead of relishing in El Roi, the God who sees me, I am choosing secular stew over the blessings of salvation.
When I look to the world for distraction instead of focusing on Jesus and listening to His steady whispers, I’m eating stew.
When I look to the world for significance instead of savoring who God says I am in Scripture, I’m stuffing myself with stew.
When I look to the world for regulation instead of resting in the peace and provision of God, I’m reaching for that stew again.
In all these examples, I trade my birthright as a believer for lesser, fleeting things.
Remember your inheritance in Christ
Although we are naturally prone to being like Esau, opting for immediate gratification over long-term reward, we can supernaturally be like Jesus through the power of his Holy Spirit. We can pray and ask for help to be more disciplined and deliberate with our words and actions.
Jesus, the firstborn Son of God, experienced exhaustion and hunger many times during his life and ministry. When Jesus fasted for 40 days and nights in the wilderness, Satan tempted him with what is known as the three inclusive sins: lust of the flesh (hedonism), lust of the eyes (materialism), and the pride of life (egoism).
Yet, Jesus was able to overcome his physical weakness with spiritual strength through Scripture and prayer (Matthew 4:1-11).
And so can we. As we daily abide in Christ, we will be filled with his strength and security. The Holy Spirit will help us avoid reaching points of emotional and spiritual starvation and exhaustion that make us vulnerable to bad trades.
As Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).
Our eternal hope is that we have a great high priest who is able to empathize with all our weaknesses, who has been tempted in every way, yet remained without sin (Hebrews 4:15).
When Jesus went to the cross for our sins, he made a bad trade that was the best news for us. He traded his righteousness for our unrighteousness.
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
This is why Christians call the worst day in the history of the world Good Friday. Because the trade Jesus made on the cross made it possible for us to be born again into his family and receive the blessing of a birthright.
Live from blessing, not bondage
Friend, don’t eat the stew.
When your flesh is tempting you to ask like Esau, “What good is my birthright to me now?” remember that you are a co-heir with Christ if you’ve confessed him as Lord. This means you are no longer a slave to your desires, impulses, and sin.
You are God’s child, with a rich inheritance being kept in heaven for you (Galatians 4:7, 1 Peter 1:3-5). God has blessed you “in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). You have a “double portion” of your Heavenly Father’s inheritance, both now and to come, with the deposit of the Holy Spirit sealing you until the day of redemption (Ephesians 1:14).
Don't trade the birthright that's been given to you by grace through faith in Jesus. You have a birthright of belonging, intimacy, belovedness, and peace. Cherish it. Revere it. Live from this birthright and your transformed identity in Christ instead of the temporal comforts of this world.
“So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:26-29).
