H.A.L.T.
"Jacob, quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished."

"First, sell me your birthright."

"Look, I’m about to die, what good is a birthright to me?"

"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 25:29-34).

Do you remember this sobering account of how Esau, in a hungry, shortsighted moment exchanged both his birthright and his father’s blessing for a bowl of stew? It’s a shocking story and a sobering reminder to never allow momentary hunger to jeopardize our future. For any of us to sin in ways that could damage or destroy our character or our legacy, we first have to forget who we are, and then we have to lose sight of our true priorities in life. No one in their right mind would trade a birthright for a bowl of beans, and yet people do it all the time—they do it because, like Esau, they allow their hunger to skew their thinking. A good rule of thumb to remember is that any time we are hungry, angry, lonely, or tired we should H.A.L.T. and carefully consider the consequences of our actions and decisions.