Here's a story...
Rebekah was pregnant. In fact, she was very pregnant. She was the biggest woman her husband Isaac had ever seen. He didn’t mean to be rude, but he just couldn’t stop staring at the size of her belly getting larger and larger. Every day he thought, “This has got to be the day!” If she doesn’t have that baby today I think she may explode!” The birth day finally came. Actually it was night—3 a.m. to be exact. The moon was full and Rebekah had gotten up from her restless sleep to get a glass of water and a pickle when the contractions hit her. She yelled for Isaac, and Isaac yelled for help! The doctor/midwife came running and not a minute too soon. A few minutes later Rebekah was holding a hairy, red headed baby boy, and said to the nurse: “that wasn’t so bad, at least its over.” The nurse just shook her head and said, “”I don’t think so. As your son was coming out I saw another hand holding on to his heel.” Rebekah almost passed out, but simultaneously she felt the other baby beginning to make his move. Now Isaac and Rebekah faced their next dilemma—what should we name our new twin sons. The family tradition was to name them according to some characteristic of the child. Rebekah wanted to name the first son Harry, because he was—hairy-- but Isaac said, “No. His name will be Red. They named the second son Jacob-which literally means “your pulling my leg”, because that is what he had been doing when he was born, and that was what Rebekah had thought when the midwife had broken the twin news…”you’ve got to be pulling my leg!” The brothers it seemed were born at odds, and as the years progressed so did their fighting, made all the worse by the lopsided favoritism shown by their parents. The mom loved Jacob more than “Red” and dad loved Red more than Jacob. As you can imagine this caused a great deal of tension in the home. Red like to hunt and fish in the great outdoors. Jacob liked to say at home, reading and cooking. The brothers were polar opposites and were disdainful to each other. One month Red went out on an extended hunting expedition, but had not had a lot of luck. In fact he had gone the last two weeks without eating anything more than a few berries and roots that he had found in the woods. He finally made his way home. As he was about a ¼ mile from his family’s tent he saw the steam rising from the black pot out front. Since the wind was blowing his way he could smell that it was his favorite—Red Lentil Soup. His mouth began to water as his taste buds began to wake up with anticipation of a hot meal. Approaching the cauldron of hot soup he reached his hand down to pick up a ladle full when his brother came running out of the tent. “What do you think you’re doing?” he asked incredulously. “Please,” asked, Red, “let me have some soup, for I am famished. I haven’t eaten in many days.” “So?” sneered Jacob. “This is my soup that I fixed. What’s wrong? Has the skilled hunter had a run of bad luck?” “Just give me a bowl of soup you mama’s boy!” spat Red. “Sure. Sure. But here’s the deal. I’ll let you have a bowl of soup but it’s going to cost you. Give me your birthright” Jacob sneered. “What good is my birthright if I’m about to die. Just give me some of your stupid soup,” resigned Red. “Swear to me first”, demanded Jacob. So Red said scornfully, “The birthright that is rightly mine, I give to you.” He then scarffed down four big bowls of the soup and a loaf of freshly baked bread without saying another word to his brother. Then he got up and left. Jacob just smiled, realizing that Red had paid him tens of thousands of dollars for all the red soup he could eat. “What an idiot he thought to himself.” We look at this story and can’t really understand how anybody could be so stupid as to trade a double portion of the inheritance for a simple bowl of soup and a loaf of bread. Our rational mind thinks that surely he had could have waited five more minutes and fixed himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to hold him over until he could have fixed something more substantial. Why did he do that? You’re probably aware that this account is found in the book of Genesis—toward the beginning of Biblical history. But what you may not remember is that the writer of Hebrews several thousand years later is inspired to reference this same story as he exhorts his readers to avoid sexual immorality. Hebrews 12:16-17 [See to it]… that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears. Say what? How is Esau like one who is sexually immoral? Here's how: 1. Esau's appetite for soup consumed him! 2. The price for the soup was costly! 3. He couldn't un-eat the soup! He was caught! Do you know what Esau needed? A Soup Nazi! (remember Seinfeld?) He needed someone to violently scream, "No soup for you!"
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Do you know what happened when a Sluggard, a Drunkard and a Glutton plan a fishing trip? The Sluggard overslept and missed the trip. (He didn’t have his gear ready anyway.) The Drunkard partied the night before and forgot that he had even made plans. (He was going to drink like a fish anyway.) The Glutton made the trip; fished alone and ate everything he caught. (And he doesn’t even like fish!) As you read through the book of Proverbs you can see that each of these three clearly fall into the category of Fool. They have heard the calls of Wisdom but ignored her warnings. This r ignore-ance has led to their ignorance, and now they each complain that they find themselves in the muck and mire of Folly's consequences. Had the Sluggard listened to Wisdom he would have heard the her calling: Proverbs 24:30-34 I passed by the field of a sluggard, By the vineyard of a man lacking sense, And behold, it was all overgrown with thorns; The ground was covered with nettles, And its stone wall was broken down. Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction. A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest, And poverty will come upon you like a robber, And want like an armed man. And the Drunkard and Glutton would have heard her declare: Proverbs 23:20-21 Be not among drunkards Or among gluttonous eaters of meat, For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, And slumber will clothe them with rags. The way of the Sluggard, the Drunkard, and the Glutton leads to an empty, enslaved, and bitter life. But the way of the Diligent leads to a full, free and sweet life! Hear once again Wisdom's words: Proverbs 13:4 The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, While the soul of the diligent is richly supplied. Be Diligent. |
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