Have you ever agreed to buy, or sell, something only to regret your decision soon after the deal went through? Here are two I regret: both involving cars.

Example 1: I gave my mom’s 1967 VW Bug to a family member. Instead of saving it, fixing it, and driving it, he sold it for a song. I offered it, he sold it, the deal was done. I liked that little ol’ Bug and wished I had never given it away. The value of those old VW’s continues to climb.

Example 2. After graduating from college, I needed a car. Someone suggested I buy a car that looked good on the outside but needed an engine. I paid for the car before fully checking it out. Bad decision. After paying I realized it was not the kind of car I wanted. I regretted my decision immediately. I got the car running and drove it for a couple of years. One day I drove it to a junkyard and handed over the keys. That day was a better day than the day I bought the car.

Abraham’s son Isaac, and Isaac’s wife Rebekah, had two boys. Although raised in the same house, by the same parents, these brothers couldn’t have been more different. If one liked this, the other liked that. If one wanted this, the other wanted that. One lived in the outdoors under the stars, the other preferred living in a tent. One was rough, the other quiet. One was favored by their father, the other by their mother.

One day, the older of the two, exhausted and hungry after a long day working the field, made a rash decision. He agreed to sell his birthright to his younger brother in exchange for some bread and stew. What is a birthright anyway? What good is a birthright if you feel like you’re starving? Esau made a rash decision he regretted as soon as he made it.

His brother took advantage of him … and Esau knew it. For years he would despise what he had traded away, and he would despise his brother too. Each of us has a God-given birthright. The question is … what is our birthright and what will we do with it? Decide carefully.