For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and chastises every son (and daughter) whom He receives. Hebrews 12:16 ESV
There is one character in the Old Testament I can relate to, as I too have a tendency to quickly jump without thinking things through — Esau.
Esau allowed his earthly hunger to get so out of control, he exchanged his birthright as the firstborn for a bowl of his favorite stew (Genesis 25:29-35).
No one thinking clearly would do so — trading a life time of blessing for a few moments of satisfaction.
Like Esau, we sometimes react in response instead of taking that critical step of asking God how He would like us to respond. As Christian entrepreneur Josh Bailey puts it:
Watch out for the Esau syndrome: trading away God’s lifelong gift in order to satisfy a short-term appetite.
When we jump at what the world has to offer, we can miss out on the best God has to offer us. And some of us, myself a prime example, unfortunately have learned this lesson the hard way. We need God to realign our appetites to what is His heart for us, the many blessings He has in store for those He loves. It may be painful to see where we have accepted illusions instead of His promises.
It’s time to stop settling for less than His best for us, Beloved!
This post first appeared over at Remade Community here.