Don’t Give Up Your Birthright

“Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.” Hebrews 16-17

Okay so this might not end up being my most popular or clicked on blog post, and yet it will probably be one of the ones that is most important. The moments in life where tough love hits us does not always feel the best, but it usually causes us to produce some of our greatest fruit when we take it to heart and apply it.

I think in a lot of the 21st century Christianity today we love the messages of God’s love, His grace, His mercy, and all the wonderful attributes that He absolutely is and He will never stop being those things! But let me ask you .. when was the last time you saw a message on “The God who rejects.” *Attendance in the pews goes to zero* Okay obviously I would never suggest that being a title to a message because even in the hard things there should always be balance and hope brought to a situation (trust me I’m all for a good message on keeping faith in the darkest of situations). But my point is many times we want to run to the things in the Bible that feel good to us but what about the warnings that God left on record to help us not have to make those same mistakes. You might be thinking, “Okay Alexis what are you talking about?”

Spiritually we all have a birthright. That thing that God put inside of you, the assignment that you are particularly called to and the things God pre planned for us to do during our lifetime. That’s the short version of it anyways. With so many people having such amazing callings on their life have you ever stopped to think about how many are actually doing anything with that calling? This my friend is where our free will enters into the equation. I believe God has a wonderful tailor made destiny for each and every one of us but I also know things don’t happen just because God wants them to. The fact that you are even reading this post probably points to the direction that you are someone who wants to stay in the center of God’s will and be diligent with the assignments He has given you.

To bring balance I am not talking about the overall journey of life where so many of us go through seasons of not quite feeling sure of what we should be doing. When our heart is in the place of seeking to pursue God He is faithful to point us in the right direction but what I am talking about is the temptation the enemy will bring along the way. It is in those exact trying seasons that the temptation comes. The weariness sets in, we become more susceptible, and all of sudden we are making decisions we wouldn’t normally make. Back to the story of Esau we know that he was out hunting and when he got back he was so hungry he lost sight of everything except what his flesh was craving in that moment. At this point the bowl of soup became the most important thing in his world. It might sound silly to us now and it’s easy to think, “Oh I wouldn’t give up something so weighty for just a morsel of something so temporary.” But what if we are making those same exchanges everyday in small ways? What I mean is slowly the enemy beings to steal your time and you trade the time you should be spending with God on lesser things the world has to offer. Or instead of waiting for the right person you rushed into that relationship that you knew did not quite feel right because the loneliness just got too much. I use these examples because this has been all too real in my own life. We are looking at the temporal satisfaction but what is it really costing us in the end? Please hear my heart I am not talking about needing to live a perfect life where we don’t make mistakes and screw up royally along the way. That’s the whole purpose of grace and mercy! But I do want to draw your attention to the very real fight that is going on over your birthright and destiny even now. This isn’t for us to get in fear about but it is a wake up call to take inventory of the areas where we have began to slowly make eternal trades for temporary things. As we read the story of Esau we see that he was repentant after his mistake, he even sought it diligently with tears, but it was too late. It says that he was rejected and could not get back what he had lost. This is a sober reminder of what is ultimately at stake when we take lightly the things of God.

I will never forget one day I was listening to a well known leader in the body of Christ preach and he began to say how he wasn’t God’s first choice. God showed him he was actually far down in the line of people he had called to do the exact assignment he was doing now. I was really shocked when I heard this at first but the more I thought about it, it really did make sense.

“For many are called, but few are chosen” Matthew 22:14

So what makes the difference between just being called and then actually being chosen? I would argue that it would boil down to simple obedience. What was the difference between the well known preacher and all the men or women God tried to get to do the assignment before him? He was the one that said yes and actually did the work to go with it. What happened in the lives of all the others that rejected the true call of God on their lives? Maybe they had a, “I’ll get to it later” mentality but then later never came. Maybe the fear of failure stopped them. We will never know but we do know this .. they disinherited their birthright. This isn’t to say that God didn’t still bless them. They have have had good mildly successful lives, but they missed the true high calling.

Consider this. Esau went on to live his life and he was blessed. When Jacob met up with his brother later on Esau was actually wealthy! On the outside it might not look like things turned out so bad but spiritually what he lost out on was so major. Eternally he did not receive the reward that God wanted him to have. To this day we say the God of Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob. Imagine .. Esaus name could have been in that lineup. Yes things in his life turned out good but it was not the true highest and best calling God had planned for his life. It is not about having a name that everyone sees but I know for me personally I find that the more obedient I am being it is a direct result with how deep my intimacy with God is. True love and devotion drives you to want to just have to have more of Him and that includes doing whatsoever He commands.

“Ye are My friends if ye do whatsoever I command you.” John 15:14

I encourage you today to not settle for “good” when there is a higher calling at stake. Continue to seek & pursue the heart of God for all that He has for you no matter what it costs you or requires. I promise it will be worth it not just in this life but the life to come. Your higher calling might look completely different from someone else’s and it has nothing to do with having a stage or a known name. It is being faithful with the assignment that God put your name on, no matter what it looks like on the outside to man. I pray that you continue to run your race with passion and pursuit, not just for your calling, but for the ultimate prize of knowing Him.

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