Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy
Welcome to Day 1143 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
I Want It...Later - Ask Gramps


Wisdom - the final frontier to true knowledge.  Welcome to Wisdom-Trek! Where our mission is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Hello, my friend, I am Guthrie Chamberlain, your captain on our journey to increase Wisdom and Create a Living Legacy.  Thank you for joining us today as we explore wisdom on our 2nd millennium of podcasts. This is Day 1143 of our Trek and time for our Philosophy Friday series.  Each Friday, we will ponder some of the basic truths and mysteries of life, and how they can impact us in creating our living legacy.  As we continue on this trek called life, sometimes we have questions about life, so our Friday trek is a time where we can ‘Ask Gramps.’   Gramps will answer questions that you would like to ask your dad or granddad, but for whatever reason, this is not possible.  No matter how old we are, I know that all of us would like the opportunity to ask dad or gramps questions about life in many areas.

We may mix it up a bit on our Friday episodes, but will strive to keep them down to earth and enjoyable.   If you have any questions that you would like to ask Gramps, please email them to guthrie@wisdom-trek.com

So the question for this week is:

“Hey, Gramps, in today’s instant gratification culture how can I gain wisdom to delay what I want most for what I want right now.
I Want It…Later
This question has plagued humankind ever since Adam and Eve decided to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  They desired some immediately instead of being content with what they desired most, which was to live with God on earth in the Garden of Eden.   There is also another story in the Old Testament that greatly illustrates this point.   Remember the story of Jacob and his twin brother Esau?  Esau wanted some of Jacob’s stew so badly, to satisfy his immediate desire, that he didn’t even hesitate when Jacob asked him to trade his birthright for it.  Esau reply to his brother is found in Genesis 25:32

“Look, I’m dying of starvation!” said Esau. “What good is my birthright to me now?”In essence, he said, “I am more interested in satisfying my immediate hunger than I am in whatever promise might be in store down the road.”  So without a second thought, even though he knew what the birthright actually entailed, he made the deal.   A spiritual blessing, a double portion of the inheritance, leadership in the family…traded for a bowl of stew.  Sounds ludicrous, doesn’t it?

Unfortunately, the story of Esau is re-lived by many people, including us sometimes.  When we focus our time, energy, and resources on achieving and acquiring what feels good now, we can miss opportunities to participate in the promises and purpose of God. Think about that:  We can miss opportunities to further God’s kingdom, to join God’s work, in the world.

As we are told in Hebrews 12:16 Make sure that no one is immoral or godless like Esau, who traded his birthright as the firstborn son for a single meal.We see in this verse that Esau was not only unwise in his decision, but it was also an immoral decision because it was outside of God’s will for Him.  He gave priority to his selfish desires, and by doing so, treated God in a way that was disrespectful.  So now I want to ask you a question:  Is there an area in your life that you are trading away God’s blessings for something else that you desire right now, instead of delaying it for something that you want most?

A life lived for Christ is a life focused on Kingdom significance, and a life of Kingdom significance will always far outweigh a life of indulgence.