MAKE the ‘RIGHT’ CHOICE TODAY: NO USE of REPENTING LATER!
January 9
Bible Reading: Genesis Chapters 25-27
MAKE the ‘RIGHT’ CHOICE TODAY: NO USE of REPENTING LATER!
And Esau said, "Is he not rightly named
Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright,
and now look, he has taken away my blessing!" And he said, "Have you
not reserved a blessing for me?" Then Isaac answered and said to Esau,
"Indeed I have made him your master, and all his brethren I have given to
him as servants; with grain and wine I have sustained him. What shall I do now
for you, my son?" And Esau said to his father, "Have you only one
blessing, my father? Bless me--me also, O my father!" And Esau lifted up
his voice and wept. (Gen 27:36-38)
Esau was
born as the firstborn son of Isaac
and Rebekah, and thereby was the natural heir of the blessings that God had
bestowed to his grandfather Abraham and father Isaac. He would have naturally inherited double portion of
his father’s wealth and property being the firstborn son. He would also have
carried on the bloodline to the Messiah. Even Jehovah would have been addressed
as the ‘God of Abraham, Isaac and Esau’
if Esau had made the right choices in his life!
Esau’s
birthright consisted of his father Isaac’s material estate (Gen. 25:29–34) that
he would have received as the firstborn son. However, for some strange reason ‘Esau despised his birthright’ (Gen.
25:34b), and did not hesitate to sell off his invaluable birthright for a bowl
of lentil stew. Any sane person would
have weighed the cost and would never
have committed such a foolish act. However, Esau succumbed to his hunger pangs,
and without thinking sold of his inheritance for a mere pittance!
Eventually,
Jacob cheated Esau out his father’s blessing as well. This blessing was
spiritual in nature, and consisted of the divine promises through the ‘Abrahamic Covenant’. Like the
birthright, this blessing normally
went to the elder son. Jacob’s blessing included both physical prosperity (Gen.
27:28) and authority over peoples outside the family and over brethren within
the clan (v. 29). We read that Esau cried afterwards (v. 34, 38), but could never get back both the birthright and
the blessing that he had lost forever. Eventually, Esau disappeared into the
pages of history as one person who made the worst
decision in his life!
Let us
understand that we are free to choose
as well. Next to life itself, the power
to choose is the greatest gift that God has bestowed upon our lives. Our
life is the sum and the result of the choices we make every day. The Bible repeatedly warns us to ‘choose life’ so that we can live (Deut.
30:19b). The "the wages of sin is
death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans
6:23) God has gifted us eternal life, if we believe and trust in His Son Jesus
Christ! Let us make the right choice
today, for there will be no use repenting later!
"Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears." (Heb 12:14-17)
