These days I heard this phrase from the title of a friend and it was kept in my heart. So I decided to look more closely at God for what that really meant, as I felt it was Him speaking to me through this friend, that it was Him reminding me of my worth and what I was anointed for in the Spirit.
Anointing
“Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come”.
2 Corinthians 1:21,22
This word means to anoint, to apply consecrated oil to a person. In the religious sense, anointing is practiced with the intention of exerting spiritual influence, sometimes with the purpose of blessing or even healing. An anointed person is under divine protection and the anointing can heal any physical or spiritual illness, bringing transformation through its calling.
To sell that would be to give it up for something else. Something non-negotiable is that which we would not exchange or sell for anything, as that is the maximum value for us and nothing would be big enough to be subject to an exchange.
The moment blinds us
“Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you. Be diligent in these matters. Give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress”.
1 Timothy 4:14,15
In some moments in life we give up blessings and the anointing that God pours on us for momentary things.
We exchange it for something that makes sense in our eyes, that awakens a very great desire in our heart at a given moment. There are things that steal our attention from what God has poured out on us and we end up seeing only a certain desire that we have. And so, we move away from what He wants for us.
I speak in the plural because I have done this many times and I need to include myself here. I sold my values and my anointing for little, I left aside what God poured out on me for momentary details that would soon disappear.
Don’t do like Esau
Genesis 25 tells that, while Jacob was cooking, Esau arrived from the field where he was working. The brother arrives tired and hungry and asks Jacob to give him some food.
Jacob then says, “First sell me your birthright” (verse 31).
At the time, the eldest son received the family blessing that resulted in spiritual and social leadership. He also had a special benefit regarding parental inheritance.
At that moment, Jacob was asking Esau to sell his birthright anointing, asking that, in exchange for a plate of food, he would surrender his birthrights, and literally deny who he was, neglecting what God anointed him to be.
Silence the greed
“But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright”.
Genesis 25:33,34
Esau’s hunger was so great that it blinded him from everything else. He didn’t see the weight of it, didn’t understand how much he was giving up. At that time he was denying who he was and deciding to walk away from the blessings given to him by God and his Father Isaac.
Don’t trade your anointing for a plate of lentils. This story teaches us that. Don’t let the temptations of the world (in whatever area or moment) keep you away from what God has anointed you to be. The greed of our human heart seduces and enchants us, to later confuse and distract us from what really matters.
The “after” arrives
“I ate it just before you came and I blessed him and indeed he will be blessed!’. When Esau heard his father’s words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father: ‘Bless me too, my father!’. But he said, ‘Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing”.
Genesis 27:33-35
Esau neglected all that he was. He left behind the feast he had for a lifetime, for a small plate of food that soon ran out.
When we negotiate certain things, the feeling is that we made the right choice. But then we eat, we fill up on that particular hunger, and the “after” arrives. It is at this time that we repent. Esau’s hunger was gone, his stomach was full, and now he could see more clearly the weight of what he had just thrown away.
Don’t wait for the “later” to arrive for you to understand the importance of the anointing that God has poured on you. He separated you for something much bigger than what your moment makes you wish and see. Don’t trade the Kingdom for an alley.
