Selling Out Cheap

Bill Brinkworth

“And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint: And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom. And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me? And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.” Genesis 25:29-34

Because of his hunger, Essau sold his future. His price for his birthright was a bowl of beans and a piece of bread. He sold out cheap! Hebrews 12:16 calls the trade, “profane.”

He sold his birthright to his younger brother, Jacob. Essau was given that birthright at no merit of his own. It was the providence of God that he was born first and given its benefits. However, it was his poor decision that gave it all away. His birthright consisted of: priestly rights, respect as head of household when his father died, family decision-maker over all other family members, and a double portion of his father’s goods when the father died. All this he gave away.

All can have the birthrights due members of the family of God. Some have given it all away for eternally, insignificant reasons. Here are a few reasons why many have not been saved and been born into the family of God to receive an eternal birthright:

“I don’t want to change religions. Our family has always been this religion, and we’ll stay this religion,”
they have not read their Bible and do not know God’s way to heaven,
they think there’s so many in their religion that they could not possibly all be wrong,
because they do not want to give up their sin to obey the Lord, and many more excuses.

In an eternity in hell, the excuses for not being born again will not seem important. Eternal birthrights get traded cheaply.

Others may have been saved, but they may have traded their birthrights as a Christian for something else of far lesser value. What God wants us to have is always more beneficial than what one could get from this world. Here is a partial list of what many have given up:

a reputation as an honest person. For whatever reason, a lie has been told, and it cost its teller the trust of many people,
a direct prayer-line with God, because one was tempted and fell into sin. Participation in sin breaks fellowship with God. Unconfessed sin has kept many from having a relationship with God and having the ability to get answered prayer,
the building of character and learning what God wanted them to learn. Perhaps they developed their lack of character because they cheated on a test, and never learned how to study and not quit. Maybe patience was traded for quick solutions to a need,
blessings of God, because one would not trust Him by faith. The giving of a tithe may have cost a person seeing how God could make the other 90% of their salary go farther. Faithfulness in church attendance may have been traded for going to a baseball game on Sunday, and now they wonder why God has not directed their life,
a future with a spouse-for-life because one was too impatient to wait on God’s timing,
a future of being used by God, for the temporary things of this world. God has big plans for many, but sometimes those plans are traded for doing what you wanted to do.
an opportunity to get instructions from God that would change one’s life, but because they never read the Bible, they never got them.

Like Essau, too many have made bad decisions. They traded something of great eternal for a shiny, worthless trinket this world offered them.

This lesson was featured in The Bible View #107.