“Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?” — Genesis 25:32
Esau was not willing to wait for the best things. After a busy day, Esau was hungry and sold his birthright for a bowl of soup. That’s right. Soup. In his shortsightedness, Esau said to Jacob, “Look, I am about to die… What good is the birthright to me?”
Esau was not actually about to die. Rather, he was expressing his philosophy that life is short, and a person should enjoy as much physical pleasure as possible while they can. He saw no value in the future spiritual reward of the birthright when he was hungry and wanted to satisfy that need immediately. Esau suffered from what we now call instant gratification. “So Esau despised his birthright” (Genesis 25:34).
This passage is priceless. It shows us what the dangerous pitfall of instant gratification can do to a person’s mind. The allure of the here and now is blinding. As observers, we can easily see the foolishness of Esau’s decision. He sacrificed his future for a few moments of pleasure. But the truth is that we have all made the same mistake plenty of times!
We are constantly faced with decisions that come down to what feels good in the moment and what is better in the long term. We have to choose between what feels good for our temporal body and what is truly nourishing for our eternal spirit. We have to choose between instant gratification and the eternal view.
