Esau Acted on Impulse

“Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!... I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?”

Genesis 25:30, 32

Esau wasn’t a great thinker or planner. He tended to go with the flow and live for the moment. When he felt hungry, all that really mattered to him was getting some food.

The problem with living at the level of impulse is that over the course of a lifetime all kinds of impulses will come to you, some of them good, and some of them bad.

You see someone on the street who looks cold, and immediately there is an impulse within you that you should give them some money or a cup of coffee. That’s a good impulse. It’s called compassion.

Esau had good impulses. At the end of the story, when he met his brother, Jacob, Esau forgave him. He had a generous spirit. When it was time to draw a line under old wounds, he did it.

But the problem with acting on impulse is that our impulses are a mixture of good and bad. Most temptations come in the form of impulse. In fact, that is exactly what temptation is—an impulse to do something God has said you should never do. This happens to all of us.

Over a lifetime, all kinds of impulses will come to you. But if you live at the level of impulse, you will eventually take a plunge to disaster.

Can you identify one good impulse and one bad impulse you’ve had recently?