How do you show respect for your self-worth? The Bible story of Esau and Jacob.

Jan. 28, 2011 - PRLog -- In the Book of Genesis, we find the story of Esau, oldest son of Isaac, who sells his birthright to Jacob his younger brother.  Esau was a skillful hunter; Jacob quiet natured.  One day Esau arrived home tired and starved after hunting in the wilderness.  He found Jacob cooking some delicious smelling stew, and said, “Jacob, I’m starved! Give me some of that red stew.”

Jacob, second born, desires the birthrights of the first born and so he proposes that Esau swear an oath to sell his first born birthrights to him in order to obtain some stew.  Esau replies, “What good is my birthright to me now when I am dying of starvation?”

Esau sold all his rights as firstborn to Jacob so that he could satisfy his hunger in that moment with a bowl of Lentil stew and some bread.  According to the Book of Genesis, Esau showed contempt for his birthrights as firstborn, in this sale.  (Genesis 25: 29-34)

What does the story of Esau and Jacob have to do with self-worth and optimism?

Esau did not respect his God given rights enough to hold onto them.  He did not say, "I will go hungry before I will give up my birthrights."  He just gave it all away for a bowl of stew.

In my opinion, birthrights are symbolic of self-worth.  We are all born with gifts that make us who we are.  We are born with physical gifts such as lungs not contaminated with nicotine, or the ability to run like a gazelle for hours on end.  Some are given spiritual and communication gifts to motivate and inspire others or to be known as an attentive listener.  The gifts can be basic or advanced, but they are all gifts given.

Everyone is born with two basic birthrights that make up the whole for their self-worth: a body and a mind.  How we treat our body and our mind is at the core of our self-worth.   Do we respect or show contempt for them?

After recently re-reading the story of Esau and Jacob, I began to think how easily we, like Esau, give away parts or all of our self-worth in trade for an immediate want or need.  We seem unwilling to make the sacrifice of a basic need like hunger for a higher spiritual need like maintenance of self-worth.  So we give in, eat the foods that are not good for us and forgo the pain of exercise while sitting in comfort on the couch.

Perhaps you never thought about self-worth as the sum of how you respect and treat your body and mind.  Perhaps you never thought that seeking immediate gratification had negative consequences for your self-worth.

The problem is, if we keep trading our self worth for immediate gratification we have no worth left except the temporary “high” of the immediate gratification.  With nothing to respect, we have no reason to exercise self-control.

The exercise of self-control through restraint and deferred gratification builds and maintains self-worth from within.  When we build worth from within, we do not need that immediate external gratification.  We can withstand hunger pains, feelings of aloneness, fear of rejection, and a multitude of temptations.

Take a look at yourself.  How many moments in the day do you give or trade away your self-worth for an immediate gratification.  Do you feel better about yourself or worse when you make the trade?  Try trading up by making a self-sacrifice or exercising self-control for more self-worth and self respect.  Tune into how you feel about yourself after that trade.  Which feels better?  Trading-up or down?

http://www.drrussbuss.com/optimism-blog/2011/1/28/how-do-...

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