Short Sighted

I decided to read through the Bible using a chronological Bible this past weekend (not reading the whole Bible in a weekend-I just decided to start then) and I am in Genesis 25 this morning. In it is a familiar story of Jacob & Esau-the brothers that never really got along with each other and were a precursor to two nations that are still at odds.

It is the passage where Esau comes in from hunting and Jacob has been cooking. Esau is famished and begs to have some of the food that is waiting and Jacob is willing, but only if Esau will renounce his birthright. He is asking Esau to give up something very important, but in the future, for a short-term, yet immediate benefit.

Isn't this what Christians do today? Don't we focus so much on the short-term benefit and the best decision for "right now" that we forget about God's promises down the line? We find ourselves staring at our feet instead of looking down the road and trusting & believing in what God says.

When we are short-sighted we:

• spend our money on what makes us immediately happy regardless of the consequences
• react emotionally to situations and lash out at others instead of considering their heart
• neglect our children because we are tired instead of treasuring the time we have
• put off getting serious about investing in our intimacy with God because tomorrow there will be more time
• let other people go on mission trips
• live as a part of a church for the social interaction instead of the discipleship factor
• treat God as a "fix" for a immediate problems instead of letting Him be the God of our past, present & future

I don't want to be Esau. I don't want to be so short-sighted and fixated on the pleasure of the moment that I forego the long-term plans He has for me. I don't want that for my children or my wife.

God didn't want that for Esau either & He certainly doesn't want that for His church.