May 19, 2013 … Selling the Birthright

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2013 - Day 139

Passage of the Day: Genesis 25: 34 [NLT] …  
34 Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and lentil stew. Esau ate and drank and went on about his business, indifferent to the fact that he had given up his birthright.  
============
 Contextual Study for today’s passage: Genesis, Chapter 25 [NLT] … Go to this link … 
============

Reference Passage #1: Matthew 6: 19-20 : [Our real inheritance.] …[NLT] …  
19 “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where they can be eaten by moths and get rusty, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Store your treasures in heaven, where they will never become moth-eaten or rusty and where they will be safe from thieves. 21 Wherever your treasure is, there your heart and thoughts will also be.

Reference Study for today’s passage: Romans 12: 1-2 [NLT] … Go to this link … 

My Journal for Today: When you read the story of Esau selling his birthright to his conniving younger brother, Jacob, do you ever think, with disdain, … “What a fool was this impetuous and foolish man!” How could he be willing to sell his part of the family inheritance for such a meager, worldly amount?

But before we judge Esau so harshly; don’t many of us do much the same thing when it comes to selling out much of our inheritance to worldly or Satanic influences? Think about it.

Just what is our inheritance in heaven anyway? Well, Jesus pointed us toward that reality in His Sermon on the Mount, didn’t He? (see Matt. 6: 19-20 quoted above) If we recognize what we are to inherit as a son or daughter of the King in heaven, should we not be doing all we can to store up imperishable, spiritual treasures for our forever with Christ in heaven by pursuing Kingdom treasures rather than falling prey to Satan’s or the world’s temptations of here-and-now earthly pleasures which will have no heavenly value at all?

So, one might ask, … “How do I pursue my inheritance and birthright as a born-again Christian?”

Well, Paul gave Christians, in his day, God’s exhortation for pursuing our Christian birthright; and I hope you have Romans 12: 1-2 memorized to be able to bring it up in your consciousness right now. If not, I’ve linked you to this passage above; and I charge you now to go to it, memorize it, and internalize it’s powerful directional content for living.

Because, … if we can live by God’s exhortation from Paul here and from Jesus’ discipleship command of Luke 9: 23 (which surely you have memorized by now as many times as I have copied it in my devotional journal entries), we, as followers of Christ, will be able to pursue more and more of our heavenly inheritance as Christians, rather than selling out our birthright to the influences of the world, Satan’s temptations, and our own fleshly weaknesses.

Pray that with me here this morning.

My Prayer for Today … Lord, help us to see clearly what You have waiting for us in glory and to pursue only those things which will be treasures for us in heaven. … Amen