Christian Living

WHAT IS THIS BIRTHRIGHT TO ME?

by Chi Onwuchekwa
06/08/20
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“And Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?” Genesis 25:32

 In Genesis 25, we see how Esau, hungry and pressed for food gives away his birthright as heir to the Abrahamic covenant and to the glory and wealth of Isaac in exchange for a plate of lentil stew.  In asking the question “What is this birthright to me?” he shows his lack of knowledge or understanding of what his birthright represents. And in selling his birthright for a plate of lentil stew, he literarily equates the value of his birthright to that of a plate of stew.

In the early years after I gave my life, I struggled with how God could hate Esau even before he was born. I prayed again and again about this asking the Lord to help me to understand why he would hate a man even while he was yet in his mother’s womb. And then the Holy Spirit spoke - He said I hated him because being the Alpha and the Omega, I saw his end from his beginning and saw that he would reject my ways and the ways of his fathers Abraham and Isaac; I also saw that he would despise the place of honour I gave him as a first born and forfeit his covenant blessings- I saw him as one who would despise and forsake the covenant.

If only Esau had not been casual with the things of God. If only he had known and placed great value on the covenant his fathers had with God with a mind to keeping them in his generation. If only he had a mind to honour the intentions of the God who had caused him to be born as a first son!

The question though is, how many of us, though we be sons of God, have also forfeited our covenant rights and blessings in exchange for temporal and earthly riches? How many times, pressured and desperately ‘hungry’ for food, for money, for success, for fame, for human recognition and the praise of men, etcetera have we also given up our covenant rights as the redeemed of the Lord and sons and daughters of the Most High God?

Do we know our birthright in Christ Jesus? Do we know the things that have been freely given to us as sons of God? And if we do, what value have we put on our ‘birthright’ in Christ? Do we consider it priceless and something we must never, ever trade off or are there things so important to us in life that we are willing to give up all that is ours in Christ just like Esau did?

For if we truly, truly know and value the earthly and eternal blessings of God that is ours as the children of God; if we know the authority, the power, the glory and the riches that come with being sons of God we would endure whatever it takes to hold unto it and protect our birthright in Him.

So, what exactly is our birthright as Christian believers?

- It is our victory over sin and death

- It is the indwelling presence of God’s Holy Spirit   within us

- It’s our place and inheritance as joint-heirs with Christ to the Kingdom of God

- It’s our position, authority and glory as kings and priests

- It is our victory over sickness and diseases

- It is our victory over weapons designed to steal, kill and destroy in our lives

- It is an assurance that if God be for us nobody can be against us

- It is an assurance that all things will always work together for our good - even the things intended for evil against us

- It is the assurance that because we are born of God, we will endlessly, continually overcome this world

- It is an assurance that we will dwell in eternity with God

And we risk forfeiting these when, in our quest to ‘quench’ our hunger or craving for money, for success, for power, for recognition and the praise of men we run to ‘Egypt’ for help or compromise our faith by seeking or accepting solutions that we know are clearly outside of God’s will.

Let us not be like Esau who, equating his birthright as of no greater worth than a plate of lentil stew, forfeits it. Let us resist the constant temptation to give up who we are and what we have in Christ in a bid to satisfy some ‘hunger’. Let us be like Jesus who resisted and rejected Satan’s offer of the glory of this world choosing rather to keep His office as God’s Son - content with the glory that comes from His Sonship.

May the Lord help us to know what our birthright is in Christ Jesus and may He give to us the power to hold onto, protect and defend our birthright in Him till the end in Jesus’ most wonderful name!!  Amen.