Terri's BlogChristian perspective on today's issues.

WHAT’S IN YOUR BOWL OF SOUP?

This is taken from Genesis 25: 27-34 and is about the twin sons of Isaac: Jacob and Esau.

Have you ever been so hungry that you said, “I could eat a horse”? I guess that’s how Esau felt when he came home empty-handed from several days of hunting.
And he walks in smelling the stew/soup that Jacob has cooking that must have smelled delicious. (A little background here: apparently the boys’ dad, Isaac, was a bit of a hunter “back in the day” and had taught Esau how to be a very good one. Jacob, on the other hand, was one who stayed closer to home and his mother had taught him to be a good cook. Have you got the setting in your mind now?  Good, because what happened next was beyond astonishing.)
It begins when Esau comes home from his trip tired and very hungry. Verse 29: “Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field famished. He said to Jacob, let me eat some of that stew because I’m exhausted.  Jacob replied: First sell me your birthright. (Whoa – what??? Where did that come from?).  Look, said Esau, I’m about to die, so what good is a birthright to me?” (According to the MacArthur Bible Commentary a birthright means a Double Portion of the inheritance, as well as the right to be the family Chief, and the family Priest. This isn’t something to take lightly.)
Verse 33: Jacob said, “swear to me first.”  So, he swore to Jacob and sold his birthright to him.  (For a bowl of soup!!  What was he thinking? Give up his phenomenal inheritance [for Isaac had been blessed by the Lord] for such a small thing???) Then Jacob gave bread and stew to Esau; he ate, drank, got up, and went away.  So, Esau despised his birthright.” (Because Jacob had him swear to it, the decision could not be undone.)
The point of this lesson, however, is this: how crazy stupid was Esau to give up a very comfortable and powerful future: his right to be CEO of the family business, and his right to be the family priest?  For something as insignificant as a bowl of soup?
What do you think of Esau for doing this? Aren’t you just a little stunned?
Before we judge Esau, however, let’s remember what Matthew 7:3 says – “Why do you look at the splinter in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the beam of wood in your own eye?”
Have you made the decision to give your life to Christ, or are you not willing to trade your struggling life for a blessed one and an unimaginable inheritance? Or, as a Christian, is there something sinful in your life you aren’t willing to give up, knowing the blessings that you could be enjoying if it wasn’t there?  Some sin that you’re trading for a life blessed by God.  You know it is affecting your life, but you continue to hold onto it?  It may be such a normal part of your life that you don’t even consider it sinful anymore. I’ve been there myself so I try very hard not to judge anyone, but I had some sins in my skeleton closet that needed to be gotten rid of, things you might not even consider as “all that bad”.  They were still wrong in God’s eyes.   And the Bible says in James 4:17 “So whosoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”  This verse could be taken another way: maybe your sin is that you know there is something you’re SUPPOSED to be doing, but can’t commit to it?  Has God hinted at a way to serve, but it’s just not what you had in mind?
Here’s the point: Are we as guilty as Esau – giving up a blessed life of obedience to God, only to continue on a path we know is wrong? Giving up joy for misery?  We think: “oh, everyone else does it”, or “it’s just a little thing”.  But we don’t get to judge our sins – or anyone else’s – God does that.  We KNOW the promises of a life lived for Him; the blessings that have been given by Him to those who obeyed. The Bible is full of stories of blessed lives, and it’s PROMISED, as stated above, if we just obey.  If you can’t think of anything that would bring your life more in line with God, then pray about it; ask Him to show you what He wants you to do. But you need to be willing to do it. Even if it’s “out of the box” of what you think He would have you do. He’s that way. However, don’t fret where God guides, God provides. And it will bless you in a wonderful way, as well as those to whom your service is for.
Ephesians 3:20 says “Now to Him who by the power at work within us is able to do ABOVE and BEYOND all that we ASK OR IMAGINE….”  Do you get that? He is wanting to bless us far above anything we could even dream of. Yet we are trading it for what?  What’s your bowl of soup?
Please pray about this, asking God to show you how to align your life with His Will for you. Throw off the chain of sin that holds you and watch the blessings flow.

In His service, and yours,
Mike Jared
Board Member of
Terri Clark Ministries