Topic: Hold It Tight [Wednesday December 9, 2015]
Text: Hebrews 12:14-17
Key Verse: “For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears” (Hebrews 12:17).
A cleric, Charmaine Braatvedt, said, the story of Esau was about values and about the need to hold on to good and right values in life.
He observed that Esau was a short-sighted man who had no insight into what he was giving away; he had flawed judgment because he gave away something so valuable in exchange for so little; and did not understand the spiritual value of his birthright. He also could not see beyond his physical needs and thus he bartered away his unspeakably holy and precious privileges; and had no respect for his inheritance. Sometimes, some of us carry ourselves like Esau in the choices we make, where we place our priorities and what we value. How we need to be reminded of what is really important in life, lest, like Esau, we sell our souls for a perishable ‘mess of pottage’. Followers of Christ are heirs to a spiritual inheritance. It is so precious that we need to do everything possible to preserve it.
In a world full of permissiveness, serious-minded believers are called to a closer, higher, consistent walk with God. We are constantly reminded that we are strangers and pilgrims and have no continuing city here. We are made to understand that our sojourn in this world will be over as soon as the trumpet sounds to call us home; hence, the need for us to walk circumspectly. Paul warns the Hebrew church to beware of things that can cause them to fall from the grace of God. Present-day believers must be reminded to first seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness, knowing that other necessities of life will surely be given to them by God. “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36).
Thought for the day: Our attitude is the cardinal factor which determines
Bible Reading in one Year: Isaiah 30-33
DCLM Daily Manna was written by Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.