Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” . . . Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.” “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?” But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. (Exodus 25:29-33).
How often we are just like Esau in that moment! We settle for far less than God’s best for our lives because we want whatever it is right in front of us right now to fill up some emptiness inside. Rather than fixing our focus on the Only One who can meet our every need, we reach for what we think will make us feel better in the moment.
Esau traded the lasting, lifelong benefits of his birthright for the immediate and momentary pleasure of a bowl of hot red stew. Impulse caused Esau to satisfy his hunger instantly without giving a moment’s thought to the long-term consequences of his actions. You and I may scoff at Esau, but the same is true for all of us at times. We see something we want, and we grab for it without “counting the cost.” For that moment, we are indeed satisfied, but, more often than not, that instant pleasure leads to lasting pain. Instant gratification can often blind us to the pain that lurks just around the corner.
So what do we do to keep from making the same mistake Esau made? We forsake instant gratification.
The key to doing that is to count the cost, by comparing the short-term pleasure against the long-term pain. We are all just like Esau; we wildly exaggerate what we think we need. Was Esau really going to die from starvation? He had missed a few meals and he was hungry. His sight was blinded by the smell of the food, which eventually dulled his mind to choose instant gratification rather than eternal gain.
You and I can both point to multiple times that we have made the same mistake in our own lives. Here are just a few:
Trading family time for business success
Trading good health for the pleasures of food
Trading exercise for ease
Trading wants for needs
It is all too easy to fritter away great portions of our lives chasing after things that don’t really matter . . . or worse, things that cause great pain and harm to us and others. By God’s grace, may the testimony of Esau’s not be ours: “He ate and drank and then got up and left” (Genesis 25:34). The rest of the story tells us of the terrible regret Esau felt after he thought through what he had done. At one point, “He burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, ‘Bless me — me too, my father!'” (Genesis 27:34). The blessing, however, had already been given to another.
A little extra thought on the front end will save us from great pain and regret on the back end. So let us all learn how to forsake instant gratification!
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Grace for the Race 