What’s your bowl of stew?

I consider myself a reasonably self disciplined person and yet I found myself challenged again by the story of Jacob and Esau (Genesis 25). Esau was the eldest and had the birthright of being responsible over much because he was the first born.  This position was a privilege and huge responsibility and set him up for life really. One day he was so hungry that he was willing to give that away in the moment for a bowl of stew. He was willing to trade the immediate for the Ultimate. “You might ask who in the world would do something as stupid as trade their birthright for a bowl of stew? If you think about it, you already know the answer. We do it every single day?”(Altar Ego, Craig Groeschel, pg 55, Study Guide)

SO, I am teaching this to a bunch of girls one Sunday afternoon and think it is a great question to challenge THEM with.  You know the joy of teaching is that God mostly challenges YOU in the process. As I challenge them to think about “What’s their bowl of stew?”, the question continues to ring in my ears as I leave for home. As I begun by saying, I consider myself a reasonably disciplined person, in things that really matter, so I am feeling reasonably good about this question. I feel I know deep down what is of “ultimate” importance in God’s kingdom and I am pretty good with not giving into the “immediate” in areas like my relationships, my ministry and most of my parenting. So, I sit down to watch a movie and 5 Lind’t chocolates later, I am not feeling to good. I think “why am I eating these, I feel sick and can I really turn off the Movie?”....Of course I can answer this easily “because I LOVE lindt white chocolate and because I would rather escape into a movie, than talk to my kids or husband because right now I am too tired for all that that, effort requires”. Hello, they are my bowl of stew ! 

Ouch.....that didn’t take long. And so what, you might say, there is nothing wrong with chocolate and a movie! And that is true in moderation. But they are my IMMEDIATE temptation and I can see over my life how “over eating” and “escaping into movies” have taken me away from the ULTIMATE, at least for a time. In some ways the fact that they only seem small, is what makes them so dangerous. They are socially acceptable, they don’t cause anyone else damage, they are not sinful acts in themselves, so it is easy for them to become something I can justify. But, If I am honest, I have been battling eating the wrong things for years now. At the beginning of each year I set goals and I generally achieve most of my goals each year, but there is one about losing weight that has been there for 16 years now, it is the only one that has never been achieved.  As for watching movies and TV series, well I suppose the size of my DVD collection may give away that obsession. You know you have a problem when you can’t walk past a DVD store, and even without buying one, you find great pleasure in just flipping through the titles. My family are always dragging me out of those stores.

So, although not a shocking admission, I know. Today I was reminded that even something that seems harmless and socially acceptable can become a distraction from the ULTIMATE, if we are not willing to be honest about answering the question “What is my bowl of stew?”  I am a believer that what is hidden is what becomes dangerous. What is public, is easier to gain accountability for. I also believe that it is only when I go to the SOURCE, to the one that HOLDS me that I have any chance of making better IMMEDIATE choices.

As I work with these Beautiful teen girls about “what is their bowl of stew” I long to create a place for them to be honest with themselves and to feel safe enough to share, to confide and ask for accountability.  But more importantly we might not so easily trade the ULTIMATE for the IMMEDIATE if we knew HIM and HIS ULTIMATE love and purpose for US.  Thanks God, for the reminder today and every day.

What’s you bowl of stew ?