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Monday, December 8, 2008

Birthright

Genesis 25:30
Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.


Esau had so little regard for the promises given to Abraham that he thought them unimportant compared to mere food. Certainly he was aware of the promises that were to be his birthright. He either thought they were not true or perhaps he considered them too far in the future to be of importance in his present hunger. Possibly he just preferred fullness of belly over the fullness of God’s promise. Whatever may have been in his mind, he proved that he despised what would have been rightfully his and that he considered meeting the temporary needs of his body as more satisfying than the promise of God.

In Hebrews the writer says that Esau is unholy because of his giving up his birthright. He warns us to not be unholy like Esau. What is the birthright of the Christian? It is Jesus Christ himself. We who are reborn in the Spirit of God are promised eternal life in Jesus. Jesus, as the firstborn among many brothers (Rom 8:29), receives us as his birthright. All that the Father has he gives to the Son. We who are born a new creation each have Jesus as our birthright. In bringing us into relationship with the Father; Jesus gives us our portion in himself. Jesus does not despise his portion. He loves and cares for those given Him by the Father. He urges us forward to the completion of all that is promised.

Jesus is our portion and we are His. He is our inheritance. We are his inheritance. He belongs to us; we belong to Him. He has given us His very life; we are to lay ours down at His feet. God is gracious to give us a part of His promise even now, on earth. Each believer has fellowship with the Son to help him to endure in the pursuit to the end promise; holiness and eternal position of an adopted son of the Father. Since the Father recognizes this position as a reality today, because of the surety of the Son, He treats us as sons now.

If we lay down the promises of God for earthly, temporary needs and desires; we despise our birthright. If we despise our birthright we show we despise Jesus. That sounds a little harsh, you say. Maybe we simply are not seeing them as true today but we will come back to them later. Hebrews 12 indicates that this is not going to happen. It says Esau afterward desired to inherit the blessing; he sought it with tears but was rejected. He found no chance to repent (Heb 12:17).
Every promise of God directs us to His Son. It is one thing to be ignorant of promised blessing; we are all growing and learning like the children we are. But Hebrews gives clear warning to not set aside what one has already received. What have we received? The Son! Every child of God receives Jesus, the Son and is called to rest in Him. There are numerous promises in the Son. We must be sure we remain in and rest in the Son.

For those in Christ; ours is the life of the Son of God. God has given us the very blood, body and resurrected life of Jesus. He has no more to give. Jesus has sent the Holy Spirit to remind us and teach us and lead us always to Himself. The gift of faith has been given to believe all that has been promised in Jesus. All has been given. There is not anything new for us to get! There is not a special formula of tailored blessings for your particular circumstances that you have not already been given. How quickly we get on the phone and the computer and to conferences and counselors to hear someone tell us something we can really, practically put to use. When we hear that we need to turn to Jesus, that all we need is in Him; we are exasperated. “I know that”. All the while looking outside of His word and counsel for our answers. We want someone to tell us exactly what we need for that time or trouble. Someone can; Jesus. Only the Holy Spirit can make known to you in the exact way you need to hear it; what is the way for you this very day and for all the days to come.

Don’t be deceived by the temptations that come with temporary desires. Hold to your future in Jesus and rest in Him. He is still to be trusted and He is still the one who saves. The answer for the day you were saved is the same answer today. As God’s adopted child; you have the life of the Son. That is not only sufficient as a meal of green beans would keep you alive but not really satisfy; He is more than enough to sustain and keep and satisfy. He is the whole enchilada so to speak. To say there is no more to be given is not to imply that we have not received enough – we have received far more than we know. God has given all in the Son – let us not look elsewhere and despise our birthright, like unholy Esau.

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About Me

I met Jesus in March 1997 and soon after I began the practice of writing things down that were happening in my life with the Lord. Over the years, in the rare times that I have looked back into older journals, I have found that the things the Lord was showing me then are the same things He is showing me now. This does not make them less helpful, on the contrary, it makes them more helpful. God is exactly who He says He is and is doing all that He said He would. We need to be reminded of God and His faithfulness. The intention of this blog is to encourage God's people to continue and to grow in their confidence in Jesus Christ. The things posted here are from my journal and are meant to be an example of God's love and help as He loves and helps me. I would expect that you would have reason to trust Jesus Christ with your life (and death) if you haven't heard about Him so I invite you to go to my page "About Jesus" to see why you can and should have every confidence in Jesus and Jesus only for all things.