Despised

Job 31:24 ESV

If I have made gold my trust or called fine gold my confidence,

If I have rejoiced because my wealth was abundant or because my hand had found much.

Genesis 25:34b ESV

Thus Esau despised his birthright.

“What would man give in exchange for his soul?” The story of Faust is one that has caught the fancy of many, even including the venerable Charlie Daniels in his song “Devil went down to Georgia” where his character risks his soul for a golden fiddle. It would seem that men have always despised eternity at the feet of the here and now. Few though have so despised it as Esau. The birthright he was entitled to was such that he would gain mention and honor in the line of the eternal king and from him all the world would be blessed. He heard of Abraham’s covenant with God, not from the mouth of some Sunday school teacher but rather from a hundred-seventy-five-year-old man on his death bed when he was roughly fifteen. (Genesis 25:7, 25:26) This father’s favorite had no use for such nursery stories, far more interested in sport and hunting and so he held his soul lightly. Jacob though greatly longed to be a part of such things. Valuing rightly all that his grandfather spoke and so taking advantage of his brothers disdain he purchased his way into the line of kings with a simple bowl of soup.

We give the title hero to those men who sacrifice all for a cause of true worth. That give themselves to the point of death that they might achieve the desired end. Along the way they are met with many things to tempt them to sell their goal short. The hero lives for that which is “worth it”. They disdain the hold cheap the creature comforts, the mammon of this life, as they look to greater things. Christ “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame…”  

Matthew 13:22 ESV

As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

Looking to our country at the moment I fear that the weeds are the greatest threat to it at the moment. Having watched and heard as so many initially accept and rejoice in the news they are given but as social standing and lively hood become endangered, disdain the inheritance they are promised and sell it for a bowl of soup. The cares of this life strangle the hope that we had at the first sign of life in them. As Satan plays his marching tune of ease and comfort, weakening a noble people, used to sacrificing for future generations, now indulging that future generations may sacrifice for them.

It is the spirit of the church that walks with joy to its passion. It is the spirit of praise that we have been accounted worthy to suffer that would cause a church gathered in prison to pray for the birth of a child, that its mother might be martyred with them, and all would rejoice that God would grant the request. (Martyrdom of Saints Perpetual and Felicitas). Let us not despise our rights as heirs with Christ, but despise the shame of a people set against God and embrace the call of saints.

Coram Deo