Genesis 25:33, 34 And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.
Esau responded to the Lord’s wonderful promises by trading his birthright for a mess of pottage. In doing so the Word says that he despised his birthright. Esau was, by a few seconds, the firstborn, and by primogeniture rights would receive the lion’s share of the inheritance and the major blessing from his father Isaac. But that was a long way off; right now he was hungry and and wanted to satisfy the present desires of the flesh.
The issue, however, is not that he disregarded the earthly inheritance of riches, which may come in the future. The real problem, the sin, is that he regarded the covenant promise of God as trivial and unimportant. Esau could have been, maybe should have been, the father of the Promised Seed, the Savior of the world. The Sin: he did not believe, or else he just ignored God and His Word. He did not “see” the invisible God or the future promise; he could see only the red lentil soup. He rejected God. He was like Eve in the garden, who saw the tree and didn’t believe God.
It is also a severe, and frequent, temptation for us to exchange long-range happiness for a momentary thrill. Many sins come from seeing the earthly moment instead of believing the heavenly promise. For instance, it seems a trivial thing to miss going to church, but God says, ”Do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.” Other Commandments have the same ”feeling only the present moment versus believing the eternal promise” temptation.
The lesson is obvious: believe the promise even if you don’t see it now. ”Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”