I'm Esau

"Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary. And Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.” Therefore his name was called Edom. But Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright as of this day.” And Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?” Then Jacob said, “Swear to me as of this day.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright." Genesis 25:29-33

The other day I was watching a kids animation of the bible... WITH my kids, okay... not by myself! They were telling the story of Esau and Jacob and how Jacob pulled a fast one on Esau to sell his birthright.

I thought to myself, "Esau sold everything... and so cheap." He thought so little of his inheritance, the honor of his father & mother, his reputation, respect etc... then it hit me when I had a FLASH of the sins of my youth before Christ. How I sold everything, my dignity, an eternal inheritance with the Lord, everything... for my own sin. I realized... I'm Esau. I sold out so cheap for sin.

That stew must have tasted good going down, but after it was gone the shame probably sunk in and made it bitter in Esau's belly. So was the sin of my youth, good at the moment but brought a life of bitter regret. If not for Christ where would I be? The weight of shame would have crushed me. But God crushed His Son for me.

"But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved, and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." Ephesians 2:4-7