Friday
Read: Genesis 25:27–34; 1 John 2:15–17
SOAP: 1 John 2:15–17
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, because all that is in the world (the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance produced by material possessions) is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away with all its desires, but the person who does the will of God remains forever.
Devotion
In the exchange between Jacob and Esau over the birthright we find no lasting resolution between the brothers and no divine approval for either of their actions. However, the inclusion of the story sets up several important plot lines: the contrast between Jacob and Esau, the conflict between the brothers, and the beginnings of the fulfillment of God’s promise for the older to serve the younger.
Esau is described as a profane person who despised the things of God and sought a life of worldly freedom. Jacob so desperately desired the things of God that he would go to any means to acquire them. Esau was wild, Jacob was calm. Esau was physical, Jacob was shrewd. Esau was loved by Isaac and Jacob by Rebekah. While Jacob sought to acquire God’s blessings, Esau sought to fulfill his fleshly desires. Both were skilled hunters, Esau with wild game and Jacob in craftiness.
Neither Jacob nor Esau’s actions in this story were exemplary. Esau allowed his flesh, his desire to satisfy his physical hunger, to take ultimate importance, even over the sacred things of God. He lived to satisfy his flesh and acted on impulse, causing him to despise his birthright. Though it is clear Jacob manipulated and controlled his brother to get what he wanted, the text does not make moral judgments on Jacob’s actions the way it does with Esau’s. God used this event to carry out His purposes to elevate Jacob to supremacy over his brother, as He had promised.
As followers of Christ, we are called to live differently than the world. We cannot live like Esau did, seeking to satisfy our flesh. Instead, we are to seek the things of God. However, in honoring spiritual things, the way Jacob did, we are not excused from sin. We must still act in a way that brings honor and glory to God, no matter the personal cost. The world is passing away, but when we do the will of God we find eternal life.
Prayer
Lord God, I no longer want to desire the things of the world. Show me the things in my life that are things of the world. Help me remove these things from my life so I may honor You fully and live a life that serves You only. Amen.