Thought for the Day

A good businessman would rather entrust his business to a capable, diligent employee, rather than to a prodigal son who cares nothing for his father's company. Many an irresponsible natural-born son has lost his inheritance, while many a faithful employee has been promoted in business and eventually "inherited" the company in place of a son.

Some have even sold their inheritance for a passing pleasure. Genesis 25:20-34 recounts such a story of two brothers: Esau, a hunter and Jacob, a farmer. Esau was the firstborn, which gave him a birthright of inheritance. On one occasion, he was famished and faint from hunting. Jacob had prepared a pot of lentil stew and Esau came in and asked Jacob for some of it. Jacob told him that he would feed him the stew in exchange for his birthright. Esau despised and cared so little about his birthright, that he sold it to his brother in a moment of hunger and weakness. "Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright" (Genesis 25:34).

Many Christians despise their eternal inheritance in a similar way. When a child of God "sells out" for temporary pleasure, he may miss a great calling that God had for him. Opportunities can be lost forever, if we fail to obey when God calls and prompts us to do something. "Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears" (Hebrews 12:15-17). What Esau had done could not be undone. He sold his birthright to Jacob under an oath and God would not permit the reversal of that oath. God can, and does, forgive any sin that we may commit, but we are still left with their consequences. For instance, a woman with an illegitimate child can ask God to forgive her of her fornication, and she will be clean in God's sight as far as her sin is concerned, but she will still have the child to raise. Another example is of those who find the Lord in prison. They can receive forgiveness from God, but they must still live with the consequences of their sin and pay their debt to society. The good news is that they now can live above their circumstances, and in many cases, their sentences are cut short because of His grace and mercy.

Every day, God brings us opportunities to serve Him, to witness, or to serve others. Some people "sell out" just to get some quick relief from their burdens of the moment. Lost opportunities cannot be restored to us. Like Esau, we may seek for them with tears, but they are lost forever, and who knows but that the fate of other souls depended on them?