By
Hilary Johnson Chukwuma Chukwurah (Evangelist)
Be
careful so that no one among you comes short of the grace of God … there should
be no fornicator, or profane person like Esau who because of one plate of food
sold his birthright. As you aware, when it was time for him to inherit his
blessings, he was rejected. He found no place of repentance, even though he
sought it passionately with tears – Hebrews
12:15-17.
Are you living
only for the here and the now? Are you living for the permanent or
for the temporal? Is your life defined by momentary pleasures? Are you building
your life on the firm foundations of value and eternity? Is your birthright
still intact or have you sold it?
Esau sold his
birthright and received a bad bargain. When it was time for him to utilize it,
he found to his greatest surprise that he could not. It never dawned on him
that no one would eat his cake and still have it.
The pain of
losing something valuable is something all of us can personally identify with.
It becomes more disheartening when we realize that we are instrumental to the
loss we suffered.
Esau’s
experience is mankind’s challenge. Esau sold his birthright because he was
hungry. He considered the satisfaction of his appetite more valuable than his
right of first born. He gave away his treasure of inestimable value for that
which was inconsequential. He allowed that which was temporal to becloud him of
that which was eternal. One word aptly describes his action: stupidity!
We are all quick
to blame Esau for being naïve, but we soon forget that many of us are
re-enacting the experience of Esau. Daily, we are in various market places
trading away our valuables, our Birthrights. We trade away our birthrights for
pleasures and popularity; fame and fortune.
It took one
careless moment for Esau to sell his birthright. One careless moment is all it
takes for people to sell their birthrights. We sell our birthrights when we
engage in activities that jeopardize our spiritualities and moralities as well
as mortgage our eternal well-beings.
ESAU GENERATION
Modern
Esaus despise their birthrights as they fervently strive for this world’s
riches and pleasures without giving a hoot! Their lusts for gold far outweigh their
ardour for God. Esau chose pottage over his birthright. All too often modern
Esaus choose this world’s rewards over what God has promised (I Corinthians 2:9).
In this Esau generation, people seek to belong. In their quests to belong, they
are pressured to conform, through which they are often led astray. They plunge
into certain activities without giving their decisions second thoughts. “Everyone is doing it” they say, “So, it’s no big deal.” Living by our
impulses can have serious adverse effects in this life and in eternity. A life
that is lived in carnal pleasure – in the “here”
and in the “now” is dangerous.
Esau’s
generation is the generation of those who want what they want “here” and “now.”
In the end, such lifestyles hunt those who are involved in them leaving traces
of shame, which is an evidence of spiritual death (Romans 6:21). This was Esau’s
experience and a powerful warning to mankind. How would you label your outlook:
temporary or permanent?
WHAT IS YOUR PRICE?
Ahab sold himself to the devil (I Kings 21:25)
and Esau sold his birthright (Genesis
25:31-35). At what prices were these transactions concluded? For Ahab, it was
just a piece of property and for Esau, it was just a plate of food. At what
prices have you sold are you selling yours? By virtue of the way you live, you
make yourself an article of merchandize with a price tag. This, perhaps was why
H. Rider Haggard in his book, She-Who
Must Be Obeyed wrote:
For man can be bought with woman’s beauty if it be
but beautiful enough; and woman’s beauty can be bought with gold, if only there
be gold enough. So was it in my day, and so it will be to the end of time. The
world is a great mart… where all things are for sale to him who bids the
highest in the currency of our desires.
So,
what is your price?
1.
Is
it materialism?
2.
Is
it fornication or adultery?
3.
Is
it fashion or conformation to the world?
4.
Is
it money or position?
It is
unfortunate that many are selling their spiritual inheritances for the price of
peanuts. Consequent upon this, God is asking, “Why?” – “What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and then lose his
soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
Our prices are
those things which bring us on our knees and inflame our passions, making us
loose every sense of worth and purpose; yearling for instant gratifications;
actions whose consequences are far-reaching, to which we are presently blinded
to.
“Oh had I known” will be the cry of anyone who
engages in the sale of his/her spiritual birthright. You would need to be careful
of your present transactions because they may be your undoing in eternity.
SAY, “NO!” TO SATAN’S OVERTURES TO SELL YOUR
BIRTHRIGHT
When approached
with the juicy offer of heir apparency to the royal Egyptian throne, “Moses refused to be called the son of
Pharaoh’s daughter, and chose to suffer with the people of God than to ‘enjoy
the passing pleasures of sin’” (Hebrews 11:24-27). Moses refused to sell
his spiritual birthright because he knew that a few moments of joy could usher
in an eternity of misery.
Moses was not
the only one to whom an offer to sell out was made. Jesus was. At Matthew 4,
Satan made offers to Jesus to despise His spiritual heritage, but the Lord
rebuffed him. You are responsible for the kind of response you give when an
offer to exchange that which is eternal for that which is temporal is extended
to you.
THE PAINS OF
LOSS
Esau’s loss was colossal. He gave away
that which was valuable for that which was not valuable. Esau’s loss typifies
the loss of one’s soul in eternity. How painful it is to carelessly lose one’s
admission, a family member, job, business, et cetera. While these are
important, think of how catastrophic it will be to lose one’s soul.
Some girls have lost their virginities
when they gave away “that which is holy
to dogs” (those who do not know the values of such, Matthew 7:6) for few
minutes of peer applause only to live to perpetually regret their actions.
After Esau had traded away his
birthright, years later, he sought to utilize it, but found out he could not.
God’s Word tells us that he “sought for it
passionately with tears” (Hebrews 12:16-17). How tragic!
You may not know what you are doing to
yourself until it becomes too late - when you reach a point of no return, when you will cry, “Oh, had I known!” be assured that what you despised in time will
be regretted of in all of eternity. While Hell is too hot to trifle with,
Heaven is too precious to miss. The painful cries that will emanate from Hell
will be very deafening. We urge you to consider an eternity of agonizing life
in Hell Fire!
RECOVERING
YOUR BIRTHRIGHT: THE IMPERATIVES
One cheering and encouraging fact is
that so long as the breath of life is still in you, there is great hope for you
to recover what you have lost or traded away. Even though, you cannot reverse
what was done, you can still regain your values and stem the tide of
retrogression. Jesus’ story of the “Prodigal Son” found at Luke 15 illustrates
the fact that God is infinitely interested in the return of every prodigal. Jesus
tells us that even though this Prodigal
Son had blown away his inheritance in loose
and riotous lifestyles (which is what characterize our world), however, when
he came back to “his senses,” he realized the futility of his thoughts and
actions. This made him to take steps towards recovery and restoration. He said
to himself, “I will go back to my father;
I will say to Him, ‘I have sinned against Heaven and against you; take me as
one of your hired servants because I am not worthy to be called your son’ ”
(Luke 15:18). He made a strong resolve,
stood up from where he was and went back to his father. His father welcomed him,
instructed that his filthy clothes be removed and that he be decked with royal
robes. A feast was organized for the return of the prodigal. His father said, “Celebrate with me for my son who was lost
has returned….” (Luke 15:22-24). He was restored to his father.
For you to recover your lost birthright, you should accept the invitation for a NEW LIFE in Jesus Christ when you do the following:
1.
Believe in Jesus Christ as the Only Begotten Son
of God without whose Vicarious Sacrifice on Calvary’s Cross, there is no living
and visible hope for eternal salvation of your soul (John 8:24).
2.
Repent of your
sins
by being remorseful of your spiritual and moral prodigalities; make firm
decisions to live henceforth for Him who died for you and resurrected for your
own eternal justification (Luke 13:3-5; Acts 3:19-21; Acts 17:30-31).
3.
Confess your
faith in Jesus Christ
as the Son of God by reposing faith in His Finished Work of salvation (Romans
10:8-10; Acts 8:37-38; Matthew 10:32-33).
4.
Be Baptized for
the forgiveness of your sins and inauguration of a New Life in Jesus
Christ (Mark 16:15-16; Acts 2:37-39; I Peter 3:21). Note, however, that baptism
is not an act of sprinkling or pouring of water upon an individual, rather, it
is the act of immersion in the watery grave in semblance of Jesus’ death and
resurrection. Baptism is burial in water (Romans 6:3-5; Colossians 2:12; Acts
8:38-39)!
5.
Be added to One
Body of Jesus Christ
(I Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 4:3-5; Colossians 1:18; Romans 16:16).
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