Thought for August 31

 History:

• 1888: Mary Ann Nichols body found--1st victim of Jack the Ripper
• 1897: Edison patents kinetoscope camera--motion pictures
• 1919: Ukrainian army recaptures Kiev--sounds familiar
• 1925: Margaret Mead arrives i Samoa
• 1946: Foghorn Leghorn debuts in "Walky Talky Hawky"
• 1955: First sun powered car demonstrated
• 1965: HUD established
• 1972: Olga Korbut wins Olympic Gold in beam and floor exercise
• 1997: Princess Diana dies in car crash
• 2019: Gunman kills 7 and injures 22 in Odessa TX
• 2020: US Covid cases pass 6 million
• Born: Caligula, Maria Montessori, Fredric March, Arthur Godfrey, Pete Newell [Basketball HOF], Alan Jay Lerner [My Fair Lady], Buddy Hackett, James Coburn, Jean Beliveau [hockey HOF], Frank Robinson, Itzhak Perlman [violin], Richard Gere, Marcia Clark [OJ Simpson], Edwin Moses [hurdles], Padraig Harrington, Chris Tucker, Charl Swartzel, Larry Fitzgerald, 
• Died: John Bunyan [Pilgrim's Progress], Rocky Marciano, Sally Rand [dancer], Lionel Hampton, Jerry Reed, David Frost, Tom Seaver, 

Thought:

This morning I am reading the story of Jacob and Esau and the birthright [Genesis 25].  Another familiar story. Just take a look at a couple of verses, 25:29-34. Here is what I see:

• The facts:
• Esau had a taste for game. His senses had identified something that he really liked. Sounds like us--our senses identify things that they crave--pleasure, ease, Oreos, ice cream, stimulation, excitement. Like Eve, these things are good to look at [please the eye], appear to be good to eat or partake, and are things we really think we need or have to have.
• Jacob had prepared a stew. Jacob prepared something that appealed to Esau's senses. An advertiser's dream. I have something that you can see and smell and it is close enough to touch. All you have to do is pay for it--have a credit card? In fact, you have worked hard, so you deserve to have this--Cadillac, Rolex, house, suit, purse, shoes, vacation, massage, attention.
• Esau was famished. He had been hunting and was hungry and he smelled  and saw something that his senses craved. But was he really famished. He says he is about to die. Really? He was at home, a home of wealth, for his father had plenty and his father loved him most. Can you hear yourself saying, "I'm starving." Really? Most of us are days away from starvation. Most temptations arise by telling us we are lacking something that we merit or deserve, but we have all the riches of Christ--what else could you possibly need.
• Esau wasn't even sure what he was asking to eat. Look at 25:30--Esau calls it "red stuff". He doesn't ask, what kind of soup is that, what's in it. Most of us crave things that we really don't know what they are or at least have not fully considered. We are motivated by our flesh. Some of you read labels on food items--red this and orange that---but most of us don't care if we think it will taste good. 
• Esau made a bad deal--look at the trade---bread and beans [he liked game stew, but the scripture said he got lentils, little beans that turn red when boiled] in exchange for the rights of the first born of a man of wealth. Sounds like every trade we make when we give in to the flesh.
• Esau didn't really think about what he had done at the time--he ate and went on his way [25:34]. The consequences did not hit until later. Sounds like every affair or me eating that bowl of ice cream in the middle of a diet. I don't think about the consequences until later--a broken family or another mile or two to walk. 
• The truth: Satan tries to place before us things that appeal to our senses--taste, sight, touch, pride. He knows our weakness. And we think we have to have those things to be happy, content, satisfied, liked, respected. But it is a bad deal--swapping the temporary for the eternal. Lord, today help us to die to the senses of our flesh and awaken the senses of our souls. 

Blessings

Larry