Day 63

 

The Lunchable

 

"Look, I am about to die," Esau said. "What good is the birthright to me?"

 

Genesis 25:32

 

 

"So who is your boyfriend?" I asked Michelle.

"I don't have one right now," she said.

This was surprising because I thought I knew who her boyfriend was. She was only 8 years old and having a boyfriend didn't really mean that much except as status at school.

"What happened to Carmelo?" I asked. "I thought he was your boyfriend."

"He was, but now he is some other girl's boyfriend."

"What happened?"

"This girl asked him to be her boyfriend but he said he couldn't because he already had a girlfriend. Then she said she would give him her lunchable if he would be her boyfriend. He was hungry, so now he has a new girlfriend."

I was astonished and amused. "Michelle, you mean you got traded in for a lunchable?"

"Yeah, basically."

Self esteem was no problem with Michelle so I didn't worry about some deep emotional scar over being traded for a lunchable. She had just stopped by my office to chat and we were both laughing about it. It reminded me though of how often we trade in our birthright, as God's children, for something as transient as a lunchable.

Esau was a hunter and would go off on long trips looking for game.  Jacob was more of a stay at home type. One day Esau came in from a long hunting trip and saw Jacob cooking. "Quick, let me have some of that red stew!" Esau demanded.

Jacob was shrewd and the second born (if only by a few minutes since they were twins). So Jacob said, "First, sell me your birthright."

The birthright of Esau, the firstborn, was double the portion of any other brothers he might have. There were only 2 of them so Esau stood to inherit two thirds of Isaac's estate to Jacob's one third. It was a steep price Jacob was asking for.

It didn't take much for Esau to cave in to Jacob's asking price and Esau swore an oath to sell his birthright. It is then we read that "Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew."

Esau thought he was trading his birthright for some "red stew", meaning meat stew and what he got was a bowl of beans. It would have been bad enough to trade the birthright for some beef stew but all he wound up with was beans.

It happens like that all the time. As Christians we trade our birthright, our position in God's family, for things we think are going to be really great and we find out what the world has to offer is just a bunch of beans. It is terrible and foolish to trade away a close fellowship with Christ for anything this world has to offer.

Satan tried to tempt Jesus with this same kind of offer. After Jesus had fasted 40 days Satan tried to tempt him with his physical needs (some bread), pride (showing off he was the Son of God by jumping off a high point and having angels rescue him) and power (all the kingdoms of the world if Jesus would only worship Satan). Jesus turned down all these offers knowing them to be nothing but beans compared to what his heavenly Father had to offer.

And that is what we need to remember. What God has to offer is so much more than what Satan or the world has to offer. The world offers candy and God invites us to the "wedding supper of the Lamb." (Revelation 19:9) The world offers a false sense of pride and God makes us "co-heirs with Christ." (Romans 8:17) Satan offers us power and God promises us we will reign with him for ever and ever. (Revelation 22:5) The world promises beef stew and delivers beans. It promises you everything and will abandon you for a lunchable.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Genesis 25:24-34

• Who was Isaac's favorite son and who was Rebekah's favorite? (v.28)
• Do you think having favorites helped or harmed the relationship between the brothers?
• Do you think Esau was really in danger of starving or was he just hungry?

 

Read Genesis 27:35-36

• What 2 times did Jacob deceive Esau?    



Day 62

 

Broken Feet

 

Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

 

1 Thessalonians 5:18

 

My son broke his foot. How he did it I don't know. I don't even know how long it was broken before we discovered it. What  sounds even worse is it turned out both of his feet were broken and we didn't know it.

You may be wondering how such a neglectful parent escaped child protective services. In my defense he was walking fine and we noticed he was limping only when basketball season started. Everyday in practice his limp would become more pronounced. We took him to a podiatrist who saw his age (at the time he was in Jr. High) and the shape of his foot  and told us that he would take an x-ray but was sure it was broken. The x-ray proved him right and he explained that kids of that age with feet shaped like his often suffered from stress fractures in their heels. So Ethan wore a walking boot for a couple of months on one foot and then switched it to the other foot.

So you see, my child did not suffer from child abuse. I have abused my lawn mower on occasion and regularly abuse the English language but never my son. The only thing abused on this occasion was my checking account.

We did have medical insurance and I was thankful for that. Not everyone has insurance or a job for that matter. The trouble was that the cost to fix two broken feet was not enough to go over my deductible.

I was thankful for that too. You see a lot of people go over their deductible year after year. My family never goes over the deductible. We are all healthy people and rarely go to a doctor.

Being thankful has a lot to do with perspective. If you look at most things you can find something to be thankful for. You don't have to be thankful for some tragedy but you can be thankful while in the midst of a tragedy.

I am thankful that my son's feet healed. I am thankful I could pay for the care he needed. And I am thankful he only has two feet.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Philippians 4:4-7

• In whom do we rejoice always?
• What can we do about anxiety?
• When we pray with thanksgiving what do we receive? 

 

Day 61

 

The Underwear Patrol

 

For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.

 

Matthew 12:50

 

Bert and Ernie's favorite thing to do when they got home from elementary school was to strip off their school clothes and watch TV or just play while only dressed in their underwear. I had come to their house because their mom was sick - in fact she was chronically ill and in bed a good deal of the time. As I rang the doorbell I could see the boys through a glass pane in the door and they were running around the living room in their underwear.

Bert came to the door and without opening it asked, "Who is it?"

"It's Brother Jess with the underwear patrol", I told him.

He took off down the hallway towards his mom's bedroom and I heard her faintly ask, "Who is at the door?"

"It's Brother Jo with the underwear patrol," he told her.

In his excitement he got the Brother part right but used my wife's name (Ms. Jo, his Sunday School teacher) instead of mine.

On another occasion we had to pick up Bert and Ernie from school because their dad had to take their mom to the hospital While we were driving home Bert asked me, "Brother Jess, why did your mother name you Brother?"

My mom did not name me Brother, but I am called that more than anything else. To my family I'm just Jess or Dad, everyone else, other than old friends, call me Brother Jess. You see I have a lot of brothers and sisters. In a biological sense I have 3 brothers and 1 sister but in God's eyes I have more brothers and sisters than I can count.

Jesus tells us that, "whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister." So if I do God's will and you do God's will then we are Jesus' brothers and sisters and that makes us brothers and sisters. We are also "co-heirs with Christ." (Romans 8:17) It wasn't my mom that named me Brother, it was Jesus.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read John 7:1-5

• Did Jesus' own brothers understand him?

Read Matthew 12:46-50

• Is Jesus saying anything negative about his family?
• Somewhere along the way did Jesus' brothers come to understand him and follow him? 

 

 

 

 

Day 60

 

WWJD

 

If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

 

Matthew 16:24

 

The kids in the class were all wearing their WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) bracelets. They had discussed what the WWJD stood for and had moved on to a craft project. There was only one tube of glue and Bert wanted it. The only problem was another little boy was using the glue. Bert asked for the glue but the other boy refused to give the glue up. So, Bert got a ruler and whacked the other boy upside the head with it and said, "Give me the glue!"

The teacher startled by the sudden assault said, "Bert, remember your WWJD bracelet. What would Jesus do here?"

Bert replied, "If Jesus was here he would make him give me the glue!"

Even when we are 5 years old we have a hard time discerning the difference between our will and God's will. One thing is for certain though, what Jesus would have done would not have included whacking a kid with a ruler.

The popularity of the WWJD bracelets have come and gone. You just don't see them that much anymore. We have moved on to new slogans and printed new t-shirts. Hopefully we have not discarded, along with our bracelets, asking ourselves what Jesus would do.

I believe if we consistently ask ourselves what would Jesus do  we would all be much better off. Anybody who invested in a get rich quick scheme could have saved themselves a lot of money by asking, "Is this something Jesus would do?" Anybody who has wounded a friend deeply by saying something they should not have said could have saved a friendship by first asking themselves, "Is this something Jesus would say?" The list is endless: Would Jesus raise his kids this way? Would Jesus spend his money on this? Would Jesus sit and listen to this?"

Jesus tells us if we are going to do the things he does we must take up our cross and follow him. Taking up our cross is not a burden we bear (like bad eyesight or a mean mother in law) the cross is a instrument of death. We must die to what we want to do and follow Jesus doing what he wants to do.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Matthew 16: 21-26

• What was Jesus explaining to his disciples that he must do?
• Was this what the disciples wanted to happen?
• How do we find real life?