Shadows (Part 1)

I am reading through Hebrews in my quiet times right now, and getting to the sections of the book after the "hall of fame" section (12:14-29), I found that the writer here made some interesting parallels with the way God interacted with people pre-Jesus and how that translates into our lives today.  

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"See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son.  Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit his blessing, he was rejected.  He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears." - Hebrews 12:16-17

If you recall this story (Genesis 25:27-34), Esau came in from hunting one day and was pretty hungry.  Jacob his younger brother (by a few seconds) was cooking some stew and Esau, being hungry, asked for some of it.  Jacob, being the shrewd negotiator that he was, told him that he'd give him some of that stew in exchange for his birthright as the oldest son.   

Now, you're probably thinking "no big deal, birthright shmirthright" - so what.  However, in that culture and in the grand scheme of the promises handed down from God to Abraham, this was a big deal... the birthright entitled that oldest son to almost all of the wealth and authority of the patriarch, as well as being "the guy" from whom God's favor would flow through the nation of Israel.  You see, with Issac (the child of promise) as their father, Jacob and Esau were born into a very special family with incredible eternal significance.  The birthright ensured that the blessings would flow through the new patriarch anointed by his father.  

Whether it was in that moment, or this was a continuous thing (I'm thinking that it was continuous), Esau chose to get temporary relief (some lentil stew... I gotta say, for the birthright it had better have been good stew!) at the expense of the eternal.  God was nowhere in Esau's picture when he had this conversation with his brother.  And in that moment, his destiny and the destiny of his descendants changed.  

So, in light of that fact, the writer of Hebrews warns us not to trade what is eternally significant in us for something temporary.  At the end of the day, that's what sin really is... it is something we go to outside of God to meet a real need and it gives temporary "relief," but it always at the end of the day leaves us empty and more distant from our loving Heavenly Father.  Fortunately for us in Christ, there is grace.  Jesus reaches out to us and receives us when we confess of our "going after stew" versus living out our birthright, and restores us through His righteousness.  I think, however, that at least I while I know I'm forgiven would rather have chosen to keep the birthright in that season.  At the end of the day, holiness really does bring greater happiness.  We just don't see it when we look in the short term.