In the Beginning…

#8.  Esau,
 and Overcoming a Spirit of Ingratitude.
So Esau despised his birthright.
Genesis 25:34

   Esau traded his birthright (inheritance) for a “mess of pottage” (a bowl of chunky soup). What was he thinking? Be honest- aren’t we, too, guilty of not appreciating what we have? And doesn’t that propensity to “undervalue” what is important betray in each of us an ungrateful spirit? How can we recognize this danger and what steps can we take to live a more thankful life?

• An ungrateful spirit is evidenced by…
• an exaggerated _SELF_WORTH_.

Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau…

Genesis 25:28

• a sense of _ENTITLEMENT_.

Once, when Jacob was cooking some stew,

 Esau came in from the open country, famished.

He said to Jacob, “Quick, give me some of that red stew! I’m famished!”

Genesis 25:29, 30

• chronic  _IMPATIENCE_.
• giving in to the “Tyranny of the _URGENT_”…

“Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is my birthright to me?”

…Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and lentil stew.

He ate and drank, and then got up and left.

Genesis 25:32, 34

• … at the expense of the  _IMPORTANT_.

But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.”

So Esau swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.

… So Esau despised his birthright.

Genesis 25:33, 34

• I can develop an “attitude of gratitude” by…
• adopting an honest _ESTIMATION_ of my self worth, particularly in relationship to God and others.

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,

 the moon and the stars, which You have set in place,

 what is man that you are mindful of him…

Psalm 8:3, 4

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit,

 but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

Each of you should look not only to your own interests,

 but also to the interests of others.

Philippians 2:3, 4

• appreciating the good things God has given me, and exercising proper _STEWARDSHIP_ of them.

“You yourselves know that these hands of mine

 have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions.

In everything I did, I showed you

 that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak,

 remembering the words the Lord Jesus Himself said:

 ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”

Acts 20:34, 35

affirming the  _VALUE_ what is truly important.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope

 through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade-

 kept in Heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power

until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

1^st Peter 1:3-5

• accepting that current circumstances, whether good or bad, are only  _TEMPORARY_ and bound to change.

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while

 you may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.

These have come so that your faith-

 of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-

 may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor

 when Jesus Christ is revealed.

1^st Peter 1:6, 7

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