Quick Note – Hebrews 12:15-16

Hebrews 12:15-16 – “See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no ‘root of bitterness’ springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.”

There is a show on TV called “Let’s Make a Deal.”  In that game, a person is given a starting object of known worth and is asked to make a deal with the host on countless other prizes which may be hidden behind the doors.  Sometimes, the prizes are much better than that simple starting item, but other times, the people end up making deals for absolute junk.  They may have started with a $100 and either come out with thousands or nothing.  But no matter what the result, the choice was his whether to make that deal or not.  In the Christian life, we as disciples of Christ are constantly tempted by the world to trade the great treasures that Christ has for us for the temporary things of this earth.  We are asked to trade eternal value for something passing, something that lasts as long as a short breath.  The story of Esau, which was first told in the Old Testament and recounted in this verse in Hebrews, tells the story of how Esau traded his birthright (his position as firstborn with all the blessings and inheritance it came with) for a measly bowl of soup.  It was nothing but lentils; there was not even any meat.  He traded something of significant value for something literally worthless, for he was unwilling to wait for the great treasure that would come.  In the same way, many people today have traded the eternal value of Christ for the temporary pleasures of this world, for it is hard to wait for something you cannot see.  They are unwilling to be like the heroes mentioned in Hebrews 11, who though they did not see by faith trusted God.  Even worse, Christians have adopted this principle of trading down, trading Christ and a close relationship with Him for things like money, houses, and even friendship.  We need to remember that our Lord Jesus Christ is the greatest gift that God gave us, for He gave of Himself.  Not only that but by treasuring Him we get to partake in an infinite number of other blessings.  To share a personal story, I also struggle with this, for I trade Christ for things I enjoy like comic books and television and games – all things which provide entertainment for an hour or two but leave me unfulfilled in the end.  But Christ is fulfilling and complete and everything we could ever want.  Let us never trade Christ for anything.