Check Your Attitude

I grew up in what was called a New Testament church, and I really didn’t know the designating factor between the OT and NT until much later in life.  For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, the OT is the story of God and His people before the birth of Christ.  In the NT, there is a new covenant, a new promise, the promise of salvation through Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  It wasn’t until a few years ago that I began to study the OT.  I find it fascinating, God’s choice to inspire certain details in the narratives, and how other details are excluded.  In Social Studies when we learned about Mesopotamia and the beginnings of civilization, it was boring, but to read about it in Scripture is captivating and amusing.  Certainly, the ways of life then were different from today, but the way humans think has not changed.  Recently we read about the twins Jacob and Esau, how Esau was born moments before Jacob, with Jacob grasping his heel.  It seems the inclusion of this detail indicates that from their beginnings Jacob wanted to be in Esau’s position, or wanted what was rightfully his brother’s.  In Genesis 25, we read:

29Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. 30He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.)
31Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.”
32“Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”
33But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.
34Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left.
​So Esau despised his birthright.

Of all things important, why this?  Jacob was cooking some stew, and Esau said he was starving.  Jacob, as I think about my own sons, takes this opportunity to do a bit of bargaining.  I could hear my sons bargaining over taking out the recycling or washing the dishes, but these boys bargained the birthright - for soup.  We know that this was important because it was included in Scripture and because Scripture draws a conclusion for us, just in case we missed it.  Verse 34, “So Esau despised his birthright.”

What was the birthright?  It was like a “head of household” status given to the first born.  It gave the firstborn the rights to the father’s estate and a double share of everything that was to be passed down.  When I read the passage in Scripture, I would say Esau didn’t care much about it, or didn’t find it too important, but Scripture tells us he despised it - he hated it, he detested it, he regarded it with contempt.  

So, what’s the big deal?  Who ordained that Jacob would be younger and Esau older?  God did.  He told their mother that the older son would serve the younger, but then in this scene, we see that Esau was okay with giving up his position as the older son - all it took was a bowl of soup, a temporary need, to cause him to sacrifice it.  Later, in Chapter 27, we see that he obviously forgot about this day because he thinks he can still get his father’s blessing, but it had already been given to Jacob.  

What has God given to me that I treat nonchalantly?  What blessings has He ordained just for me that I don’t value?  In what ways do I despise the goodness of the Lord that has been bestowed upon me?  This passage illustrates that when we don’t protect the blessings He has given to us, it’s an offense to Him.  Scripture draws the conclusion, “So Esau despised his birthright.”  What blessings do I despise?  What blessings do you despise?

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One thing that comes to mind is my hair.  It thick and has a tight curl pattern, and did I say thick?  I've lamented over my hair for years, but during the closure of 2020, I began to embrace it.  I realized it's a blessing not a curse - a blessing many people do not have.  I decided then that I would stop speaking negatively about it, stop putting heat and chemicals in and just wear it with pride.  Today, I am realizing that I despised my hair - glad I checked my attitude. 

The next thing that comes to mind is work.  I cannot tell you how I prayed for this job.  I lost multiple nights of sleep praying that I would get a call back, prayed through three separate interviews - and God decided to bless me with this job.  It is a lot of work, more than I could possibly have imagined.  I complain about it, I’ve said this way of life has made me a shallow thinker, prevented me from writing novels, all sorts of things - I may need to repent, as I certainly would not want my job to be taken away from me. 

What do you despise?  

Do you need to do better?  

Check your attitude this week, in Jesus'.  Amen.
Kim