Bibledoorajar examines "Portions"

      "See what love the Father has lavished on us in letting us be called God's children! For
        that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it has not known Him.
        Dear friends, we are God's children now; and it has not yet been made clear what we will
        become. We do know that when he appears, we will be like Him; because we will see him
        as he really is."
                                                                     1 John 3:1-2

        "I have been so deprived of peace, I have forgotten what happiness is, and I think,
         my strength is gone, and so is my hope in the Lord....But in my mind I keep returning
         to something that gives me hope---that the grace of the Lord is not exhausted, that
         his compassion has not ended. They are new every morning! How great is Your
         faithfulness! The Lord is all I have, I say, therefore I will put my hope in Him."
           
                                                                     Lamentations 3: 17-18; 21-24
   
     "Please let me gulp down some of that red stuff--that red stuff-- because I am exhausted!....Jacob
       answered first sell me your rights as the firstborn. Look, I am about to die, said Esau. What
       use to me are my rights as the firstborn? Jacob said, First swear to me! So he swore to him, thus
       selling his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave him bread and lentil stew; he ate and drank, got
       up and went on his way. Thus Esau showed how little he valued his birthright."

                                                                                      Gen. 25: 30-34

       I once lived and worked in Jackson, Mississippi. On Sunday mornings several ladies from the church we attended would go to the City Jail and share a lesson from the Bible with the inmates. I can recall that after teaching, many of the women would gather around asking for some of the "red stuff" because they were exhausted and felt they (and the children they had left in the world) were "about to die." Usually, it was "pay this" or "please get groceries to my children" but often it was "can you help me get out of jail?" You see, they really were not interested in the "precious portion" that had been  discussed and the hope therein, but rather just in their immediate need.

This was Esau's problem too. His birthright, his portion, meant little to him. His hunger actually had so much of his attention that he lost the hope of his inheritance, a part of which he was already enjoying. The "big hunter" had lost his peace. We Christians must avoid such a lamentable place! We are children on the way to a bigger and brighter future. Keep the faith; dare not give it away! Find happiness in the portion you have now!