As we closed out the year of 2012 and began this new year of 2013 we at the Rock participated in a Covenant Service where we confessed our sin and covenanted as servants before God. The hope is that everyone will say yes Lord and follow God wholeheartedly everyday of their life till the end, whenever that will be. Now, if you could not say the covenant or lip-synced (very bad idea I might add), then you have decided not to follow God. If you have decided not to follow God wholeheartedly (no one wants to admit that out loud but actions usually tell the tale) then you have decided to follow something or someone else. This is really an awful thought but this happens all the time. It is called despising your birthright. You then have to ask what are you despising your birthright for? In the case of Esau he sold out for just a few scraps of food. Genesis 25:29 “Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. 30 He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.) 31 Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.” 32 “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”33 But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright.” Think about that for a moment. Let’s say you were set to inherit an estate worth millions and one day you are hungry and you say to your brother; take me out for lunch, I’m hungry. Your brother says no way, not unless you sell me your birthright. So you agree and you go out for a Happy Meal at McDonalds.
Hebrews 12 says, “See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. 16 See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. 17 Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change what he had done.” As we think about this covenant we have just made, be sure to take it seriously. God demands wholehearted servanthood from us. He does not accept us as half-hearted followers who sometimes listen but end up doing our own thing. Today make sure that you are not missing out on the grace of God because you are hungry for something else. In doing this you are despising your birthright as a child of God.
