What’s Your Price?

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1 Kings 21:3 – And Naboth said to Ahab, The LORD forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee.


Ahab thought Naboth was like most people. He thought he had his price. But Naboth had conviction. His vineyard was more than a glorified flower garden. It had been in his family for years and was his inheritance. He put principal over profit. His vineyard was more valuable than anything Ahab could offer him. He put priority over pressure. Ahab’s pleading was to no avail, Naboth wouldn’t budge. And he put purity over peril. Old Testament Law forbad selling your inheritance, and Naboth was going to obey that even if it meant disobeying the King of Israel; even if it meant his life, which eventually it did.

Esau, Jacob’s brother had a reputation as an outdoorsman. He was a carnal man who always did what he wanted. You might say he followed his appetites. One day he came in from the field and was so hungry he sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of chili. His ruin came about because he was a temporal man. He only thought of the moment, not the future. He also was a tired man. Jacob bargained with him when he was weak and vulnerable. He later regretted his decision, but it was too late. Scripture says, “he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears” (Hebrews 12:17).

What about you? What’s your price? Could just the right job with higher pay get you to compromise your convictions? Could someone pressure you enough to sell the rewards of your inheritance at the Judgment Seat of Christ? Will you “suffer loss” (1 Cor. 3:15) or “receive a full reward” (2 John 8)? Will you be like Naboth or Esau? A father warning his son about compromise, said, “Son there’s nothing in the middle of the road but a yellow line and dead possums.” Hold on, don’t sell your inheritance!