(2) In the Bible, Esau was a person who was deeply affected by his wrong priorities. Many of our readers might know about him. He was the firstborn of Isaac and Rebecca, and the older brother of Jacob who was the father of the Israelites. As per the Jewish traditional customs, he had the birthright as the firstborn to receive great 
blessings. But what did he consider worthy of higher priority? One day when he came back home famished, he sold his birthright to Jacob for some lentil stew (Gen 25:29-34). Even before Esau was born, God had foretold Rebecca, “the older will serve the younger” (Gen 25: 23). Likewise in an earlier issue of Scripture Study we looked at how God told the prophet Malachi that he loved Jacob from birth (See Scripture Study – Blossom 03: April 10, Paras 03,04). We also saw that God predestined and guided Jacob and his descendants (the Israelites) before they had done anything good or bad (Rom 9: 10-13). This is true indeed. But from Esau’s actions we realize that divine predestination has wisdom unfathomable to our minds. He was ready to lose his birthright blessings for the sake of temporary fleshly benefit and ultimately he did end up losing them. Even if God had foretold his loss, Esau’s careless attitude justifies that loss. From this it becomes clear that even though God’s predestination might appear unreasonable to our superficial eyes, He actually has His own reasons to predestine a person’s fate as He does have the power to know the characteristics written in every person’s genes. This being the case let us focus on the thing relevant to this issue’s topic i.e. Esau’s priority. Apostle Paul warns us that this act of Esau serves as a lesson to us, we who are the Church – ‘See that no one… is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son.” (Heb 12:16). Yes, Paul points out that Esau, with his wrong priorities, signifies those who go to their second death for the same reason. In our lives, occasionally we face choices similar to those Esau had before him. What do we do during those times? Do we sell off our eternal spiritual blessings for the sake of momentary worldly gains? To which do we give higher priority? We might have heard some Christians whining about not being able to do gospel work due to the demands of their jobs. And we also would have listened to some others offering family issues and responsibilities as excuses for the same. Actually we ourselves might be one of them! In that case, the question we need to ask ourselves would be – Have we become like Esau? Let us ponder over this. God has preordained us and has given us a chance to attain the great heavenly prize. Typically, Esau too had a chance to get the blessings of his birthright. But he lost them as he gave higher priority to the lentil stew that satisfied his temporal needs. It’s very true that we too would lose our heavenly blessing if we give higher priority to the pulls of our worldly needs. The thing to be noted here is that having some lentil stew is not against the Law. That is, it is not a sin. Likewise it’s not sinful to spend time with our families and on our jobs. But still Esau was punished. What did he do wrong then? Choosing the wrong priority. Even today many Christians fool themselves assuming that only committing sin is wrong and it’s acceptable to be focussed on our job and family. How so? The mandate of our baptismal oath is for us to offer ourselves as living sacrifices for Christ by doing gospel work (Rom 12:1). That being the case, giving priority to worldly matters instead is very wrong. We should be Christians who realize this. Otherwise we would be making the same mistake that Esau did.
(3) The other obvious aspect of Esau’s mistake is his stupidity that made him sell off his priceless birthright for the sake of some trifling stew. Truly his act was foolish. In the same manner, even the greatest blessings of the present world when compared with our eternal blessings of the coming ages are like that insignificant stew. The stew appeared very important to a then hungry Esau. Likewise worldly blessings might appear significant to our present fleshly selves. We have to be cautious about this. By choosing the wrong priorities, we might excel in our worldly careers or earn a good name in our families. This might lead to many extolling us as great and wise. But from the eternal perspective we would still be considered fools like Esau. We would become objects of ridicule and insults for many. To avoid that, we would need what Esau lacked. That is spiritual farsightedness. Esau had the ability to think only about the present. So he gave priority to the present and forgot about the future. That led to his fall. If we too were to forget our heavenly future with a short-sighted vision that gives priority to the present worldly luxuries, that would lead to our fall as well. So at the end of every day, it would be good for us to conduct a self-evaluation on whether we gave importance to our next life or rather the current. It is indeed tough to be focussed on our next life. Paul says – ‘For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.’ (2 Cor. 4: 17, 18). Yes, whatever is seen is fleeting. It will pass away. But it takes a good amount of resolve to ignore the things of this world that can be seen, touched and felt. Esau did not have such a resolve. We on the other hand, should strive to build that steadfastness and resolve.
(4) Many would agree with us in all the aforementioned things. They would accept that it is right to give higher priority to future heavenly blessings rather than to the activities of the present world. But the thoughts of some might go ‘Let me dedicate myself to God after I have achieved some stability in my job’. Some others might convince themselves with excuses such as ‘after I build a house’, ‘after I retire’, ‘after I get married’, ‘after I earn some money’, or ‘after I complete my studies’ and so on. Essentially, till their environment becomes conducive, they would do only a little of gospel work in the time left over after taking care of their jobs and families. Indeed, their priorities lie in their jobs and families. They reason, ‘Let us stabilize those two first. Then let us make a wholesome dedication to God’. Esau serves as a warning to those kinds of people as well. Pay attention as Apostle Paul continues on Esau in the book of Hebrews – ‘Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change what he had done.’ (Heb 12:17). It is true that Esau finally realized the significance of his birthright and sought to have it. But it was too late. Likewise it would not be fruitful to procrastinate until death waiting for our situations to become favourable. More importantly, we should not underestimate Satan, our powerful enemy. He would make sure that the circumstances we wait for never come together. For instance, if we think we would devote ourselves fully to God after we achieve stability in our job, he would never let that stability happen. Let us not forget that he ‘prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to 
devour’ (1 Pet 5:8). If we were to plan to do gospel work after we complete our familial duties, he would keep on increasing those responsibilities. Even God would test us in the matter of what we care for – Is it job stability or domestic responsibility? Or is it His gospel work? Moreover greed is inherent in human nature. So, if we were to achieve victory in a worldly matter, our flesh and Satan together would motivate us to seek more of such victories. So, let us not delay like Esau did. Rather let us start giving higher priority to gospel work right from this day and right now. When Esau wanted to get his inheritance during the later days, it was not due to a true repentance. God always responds to true repentance irrespective of time and circumstances (See Grace – Blossom 31: July 10, Para 07). He did not seek forgiveness from God for selling off his birthright. Instead, he wanted to get the blessings and moaned about losing them as if they were rightfully his. He forgot that he was the one who had sold it off due to his wrongly placed priorities. His heart had been hardened. Our hearts too would meet a similar fate if we continue to give priority to worldly things. As time goes by, we would end up in a state where we do not even realize that our actions are wrong. Only our own excuses of family, job etc. would appear huge. We would begin to think like Esau as though heavenly blessings are supposed to be automatically bestowed upon us. Today, when you read this issue, if your conscience pricks you and makes you realize that your priorities are wrong, it means your heart is not yet hardened. Start correcting your priorities right from today. Instead, if we were to while away our time, our hearts would become hardened like Esau’s, and we would end up losing everything. There is one in the Bible who showed an exact opposite behaviour to Esau’s. He too was in hunger. Actually, he was directly tested by the devil himself. But he had his priorities straight. So he won that test. He is Jesus Christ, our Redeemer (Matt 4:2, 3, 4). God has called us to give priority to the right things like Jesus did.
(5) Some might say – ‘I cannot let go of my job completely, I have to take care of my family as well’. Listen to Jesus when he says – ‘Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.’ (Matt 10: 37-39). Indeed, Christianity is not a religion that promises a good job or a pleasant family life like other heathen religions do. As a matter of fact, the Bible tells us that Christ himself roamed around without a place to lay his head (Matt 8:20, Luke 9:58). For argument’s sake, we could say Jesus was a perfect man without sin and he could live like that as he had come down from heaven; hence we should not be comparing ourselves with him. But that argument would not hold water. Why so? Then, what do we have to say about the life of Paul who called himself the worst of sinners? Paul did not marry. He was a well-educated scholar. But he took to lowly tent-making to better suit the needs of his gospel work. Christ-like, he wandered around as a nomad all his life without a place to rest his head for the sake of the gospel. He underwent immense sufferings to get Christ’s gospel to many and finally was also martyred for the sake of Christ. Christianity is indeed a revolutionary path. Take note of Paul’s advice – ‘What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they do not; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.’ (1 Cor. 7: 29-31). In some of the older translations, the 31st verse has been rendered as “not abusing” instead of “not engrossed” (KJV 1 Cor. 7:31). That is incorrect. In that sentence, the root word that has been translated into ‘abusing’ is ‘katachraomai’ (Strong’s No: 2710). Its correct meaning is actually “overuse”. So the NIV has it right. It’s paramount to realize this difference. ‘Abusing’ the world denotes sinful activities. But give notice to the examples that Paul has been building up – ‘those who have wives should live as if they do not; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep;’. Not even one of these is a sinful act. They are just wrong priorities. Those who marry should not place their marriage at a higher priority. Those who mourn due to worldly sorrows should not consider that mourning to be of higher significance. Those who are happy due to worldly pleasures should not deem that happiness to be a priority. Those who want to buy worldly material things should not make them high priorities. Indeed, in essence, even though an experience may be sinless and justified, Paul tells us not to give it a priority if it’s worldly. To take it further, Paul advises the unmarried not to take up getting married as a priority, but instead recommends them to remain unmarried giving importance to God’s work. His suggestion is to marry only when absolutely necessary (1 Cor. 7:1-40). Likewise, even though having children is not wrong, the newly married brethren should not consider it as their priority but rather reflect on what would be best for their spiritual lives and then decide accordingly. Truly, Christianity is a revolutionary path indeed. Heathen religions try to teach people how to lead a good life in the present world. The Christian faith does not do that. Our present life is not to live for ourselves, but to sacrifice for the sake of Christ. That is why we are a crowd separated from the world. So it’s true that we would not reach our heavenly goal if we attempt to lead a normal life in this world. Like Christ, like Paul, we should strive to lead a revolutionary life. Only such kind of people can become one among the 144,000 that forms the body of Christ. Our truly impartial Yahweh God would not hand us the same crown of life that Paul is going to get, unless and until we do a similar amount of gospel work that Paul did. This is a tough truth indeed. That’s why this road is called the narrow road (Matt 7:14). So what do we need to do? We should follow Paul’s example. Although tent-making was an unstable lowly job, Paul chose to do that as it was a good fit for his spiritual life. Likewise we should choose a job that would allow us ample time and place for our spiritual life. If our current job is not like that, we need to change it. The job we choose might be ordinary. It might be unstable. So what? Isn’t the whole illusion of this world including our life a passing phase? (1 Cor. 7:31). In the same manner, we do have a duty towards our family. But, it’s not like what is perceived among the people of the world. In our case, such a responsibility comes only second to our primary responsibility that is towards Christ. Yes, it’s important to provide basic amenities to our family. However, it’s unnecessary either to think about accumulating wealth for the family or to groom our kids to be successful in this world or to lavish worldly luxuries on our spouses. If our actions are focussed towards these, we would fail to give priority to
God. So taking care of only the fundamental needs of our family, we should focus our priorities towards godly works. This might make our family members upset, angry or even lead to them mocking us. At that time, it would be good for us to remember what Christ said – ‘Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.’ (Matt 10:37,38). How revolutionary is the Christian life! We are standing on a spiritual battlefield. So, all our attention should be focussed on doing battle by performing gospel work, taking up the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, with the belt of truth buckled around our waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place (Eph 6:13-20). Instead, if our attention gets distracted by our jobs and families, we are certain to be slain on that battlefield. Apostle Paul explains this beautifully – ‘Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer.’ (2 Tim 2:3. 4). Indeed brethren, focus is vital for a soldier. Wrongly placed priorities for worldly matters would certainly bring destruction. So, let us serve Christ as a good soldier!
(6) Next, let us see what we should be prioritizing within our spiritual life. We are to study about 3 things in particular. Firstly, when the church gathers, what should we be giving higher priority to? On many occasions, we give priority to talking about our personal lives and world affairs. The fellowship of brothers and sisters is to conduct godly business. It’s not wrong to share things happening in our personal lives. Moreover, sometimes when we go through intense trials, it is comforting and encouraging when we share them with our brethren. Such a sharing is good and desirable. Having said that, what would not be good for our spiritual lives is giving priority to unnecessary stories that waste time. It’s not enough to just avoid sinful gossip. Rather it would be beneficial to stay away from any kind of time-wasting conversations even if they are not sinful. Because when the brethren come together, they should indulge in fruitful activities like studying the Bible, planning on how to get the gospel to more people and implementing such plans. In that case, not only that church would thrive, but also every brother and sister would get a chance to grow spiritually. The gathering of the Church is not like those of worldly relatives or friends. Let us keep that in mind. Paul advises us in this regard – ‘Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.’ (Col 4:6 & Phil 1:27).
(7) Secondly, before doing gospel work, we should give priority to getting reconciled with a fellow Christian who has something against us. This has been mentioned by Christ himself – ‘Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.’ (Matt 5:23, 24). In order to present ourselves as living sacrifices to God by doing gospel work, we first need to be at peace with all our brethren. But, if someone spurns our honest attempt at reconciliation, then it’s not our fault. But once we are aware of a conflict between us and a fellow Christian, it would be pointless to try to present ourselves as a living sacrifice without making any attempt at reconciliation. Apostle John explains the rationale behind this – ‘We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.’ (1 John 3:14, 15). Indeed, if we are not at peace with any of our brethren, it means we do not love them. Doesn’t John tell us that anyone who does not love remains in death? It would be fruitless to do works of faith in such a dead state. Paul confirms that without 
love there is no gain in doing things no matter how great they are (1 Cor. 13:1-3). So we should always be one of those who give priority to reconciliation. At the same time, reconciliation does not imply that we should stay away from condemning the wrongs committed by any fellow church member. Rebuking wrongful acts is an important aspect of brotherly love (See Grace – Blossom 01: February 08, Para 07). Moreover the purpose of rebuke is not to hate the wrongdoer, but to make him or her repent. We should wholeheartedly accept someone who repents. So rebuking a wrongful act is right indeed. On the other hand, it is wrong to be passive without making any attempts at reconciliation to resolve a conflict that occurs between brethren due to some reason. Staying that way would make us remain in a dead state. So if we know a brother or sister with whom we have an issue, let us try to settle it with him or her today itself. Furthermore, if we get into trouble with anyone from now on, let us follow Apostle Paul’s advice and try to patch it up with that person before the sun goes down that day. (Eph 4: 26, 27).
(8) Finally, we need to give priority to Jesus’ message in these verses – ‘Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.’ (Matt 7:3,4,5). Usually, human nature tends to magnify the shortcomings of others rather than one’s own. Due to that, many a time we ignore our own wrongdoings, but make a mountain of those committed by others. It is that kind of behaviour that Jesus condemns here. It is necessary for us to rebuke the wrongs committed by other brethren. But, what should be our approach in this regard? Whatever virtue it may be, before we evaluate others, we should assess whether we ourselves are upholding it in the first place. Because aren’t we too human beings in the fallen flesh? So wouldn’t we too fail now and then? Such a self-critical approach is pretty vital (Gal 6: 3, 4). Apostle Paul explains this in his first epistle to the Corinthians as follows – ‘if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment.’ (1 Cor. 11:31). Surely, if we were to test and evaluate ourselves often, we would recognize the failings that rise in us now and then and repent immediately. So, we would not be subject to a final judgment later. It is this concept that Paul puts forth in the aforementioned verse. On the other hand, if we do not do such self-critical evaluations, we would not detect anything wrong within us. And those failings would grow further and lead us deeper into sin. Finally, we would come under divine judgment. Moreover, when we ourselves are in sin, if we try to rebuke that of others, we would become objects of their mockery and insults. To take it further, if we hasten to point out the sins of others not worrying about our own sins that we are well aware of, it shows us to be hypocrites. So our first priority should be to recognize and correct our own failings, rather than doing that for others. Only then we would gain the respect of others. And we would be pleasing to the eyes of God. Hypocrisy would not reside in us. This is tough indeed. Fault-finding and criticizing others are easy to do as they are inherent in human nature. Moreover our human disposition always tends to think of ourselves better than others. It is hard to break this natural tendency. We need to realize with sober judgment that we are fallible human beings as dictated by our Christian faith and hence should test and evaluate ourselves very often – ‘Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.’ (Rom 12:3). In particular, as Jesus said, before we judge others it is essential for us to give higher priority to judge ourselves. As a matter of fact, the Bible asks us to ‘esteem others better than ourselves’. (KJV Phil 2:3).
(9) In this issue, we saw what should be our priorities in life. We also studied how recklessly Esau lost his birthright blessings, and how we should not be like him, but rather serve as a good soldier for Christ doing battle, not giving priority to any other worldly matters like families or jobs. Furthermore, we saw that we should give priority only to spiritual activities when the Church gathers, and that we should consider it important to reconcile with our brethren before we embark on gospel work. We also found that we should judge ourselves before we set out to judge others. In the coming New Year, let us pray God for us to set our priorities right! Amen.