Ever had one of these moments? I'm reading the account of Jacob and Esau from Genesis 25, and I'm thinking this about Esau: "You idiot! You sold out your birthright for a bowl of stew? What kind of moron does that?"
Then, there was this companion scripture from Hebrews 12:
"See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears."
That's when I got a Holy Spirit Facepalm. What kind of moron does that, Wayne? Uhm, go look in the mirror.
No, I didn't sell my birthright for a single bowl of stew, but I might just be in the process of throwing my birthright away for a few hundred bowls of nachos. In the past ten years, I've gained 100lbs. ONE HUNDRED POUNDS. Through selfcentered eating habits, I've somehow managed to grow a whole new person…a rather flabby feller that I carry around with me wherever I go. Well just slap my momma and call me Esau.
God has seen fit to allow me to be born, live, and have one amazing life, but at this rate, I'll be checking out LONG before God's plan for me (my birthright) is finished. I don't want that to happen. I cannot allow that to happen. I've got to change. I don't know exactly how, but tomorrow is too late to start. Now is the time.
How about you? Maybe, it's not food, but some other thing that has way too much of your time and attention. Maybe it's something else holding you back, keeping you from your birthright. Know this: you have a birthright. That is to say that God has a purpose for you. You may not know what that purpose is, but the beautiful thing is, you don't have to know. God's making a straight path for you. It may look like a meandering, haphazard path to you, but to God, it is the Laser-straight Path that you were born to live. The question is, are you squandering your birthright? Are you bathing in immediate pleasures and fake fulfillment while turning your back on what might be?
CS Lewis puts it this way: “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
Have you been living an Esau life? If so, get a Holy Spirit Face Palm and floor it toward the life you were born to lead.
4 comments:
Not saying you're a mama, but there's a great book that actually works for losing weight. You might be interested in it.
http://www.amazon.com/Trim-Healthy-Mama-Pearl-Barrett/dp/0988775115
-Jason L.
Wow! This really spoke to me! Thank you, Mr. Batson! I pray that the Lord continues to use you and your books for His Glory!
I "happened" to come across your book The Door Within. I am now reading it to my 5th and 6th grade students. I think this just may be the best book I've ever read to them! Friday I asked them to make some predictions before I began reading again (I read to them for 10-15 minutes every day after lunch). I know the book has hooked them when they couldn't stop predicting. They were feeding off one another, and the atmosphere was electric! I loved it. It's really hard to put down and move on to our History lesson every day. I think we are your newest and biggest fans! Now reading your blog and seeing you are a Christian, well that's the icing on the cake. I am too, and I teach at a small Christian school. Thank you for blessing us with your stories! God has given you a beautiful gift! Now I want to read ALL your books!
Pretty good point with this blog post. Many people are in fact wasting their "birthright."
My difficulty is that the things I feel like I am wasting my life on are things I can not get away from.... it's absurd that I spend 8 hours a day with my coworkers and only get 6 hours a day with my family! Unfortunately unless I can figure out how to earn money from home... (not easy where I am located) I am stuck working 50 hour weeks, getting paid for only 40 of those hours and having little time with my kids.
I am trying to get some books published to start that process of home based income... but that will be a lengthy process.
I did think of another thing, however, on the Esau thing. In Hebrews it mentions that later when he expected to receive his birthright.
We know from the story that his father would have given him that birthright too! So it could very well be that when Esau sold his birthright he was simply conning his brother and always assumed he would receive it in spite of selling it.
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