Hunger is a pretty powerful motivator.  But is it powerful enough to cause someone to give up his or her birthright?  Could someone be so ravished that he would lay down his father’s blessing in order to get something to eat?  Yes.  Meet Esau.

Genesis 25:29-34 recounts the conversation between Esau and his twin brother Jacob:

~ Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished.  He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.)

Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.”

“Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”

But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.

Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright. ~

There’s no indication that Esau was about to die soon.  Why then set down his birthright for the love of some stew? I believe that Esau lost sight of what mattered most: his relationship first with God and then with his father.  I heard one speaker explain it this way:  Esau placed a stupid bowl of stew over his desirable future.  The speaker encouraged us to write down what is at stake in our lives in relationship to our desirable future.  For Esau, it was much given that he stood to inherit all that was his father’s (which was no small treasure!).

My list of what is at stake includes my fellowship with God, my life, my relationships with others, and my ministry.  When hunger creeps in–hunger for anything that threatens my desirable future–I’m hard pressed to reframe the hunger against the backdrop of what is at stake.  Change the stew to fame, appreciation, riches, etc. and compare what’s in the bowl with what’s at stake.  Is it worth the trade off of my desirable future?

I think of Jesus and how His relationship with His heavenly father was at stake as he faced the cross.  Remember that Jesus asked that the cup be taken from him, but He also made this request with what was at stake in full view.  His view of the cross was shaped by His desirable future of being in relationship with His people.  Hebrews 12:2 tells us that he endured the cross for the joy set before Him.  He did it for the love of His people.

What’s my motto? For the love of stew? or For the love of God?