Buy and Sell

 •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 6
Markets or marketplaces are found all around the world today and are very interesting as well as useful and important. Some of them are clean and well-kept and others are just the opposite. In some of the poor lands they are the center of life and the means of sustaining life. Besides food, clothing and furniture, almost every imaginable thing is bought and sold in the marketplace.
The first time we find the word "sell" in the Bible is in connection with Esau's selling his birthright. Gen. 25:29-3429And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint: 30And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom. 31And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. 32And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me? 33And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. 34Then 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. (Genesis 25:29‑34). For this, he is called a "profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright." Heb. 12:1616Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. (Hebrews 12:16). No doubt that was one of the worst sales that has ever been made. In that sale Jacob (later called Israel) was the buyer. In Ex. 4:2222And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn: (Exodus 4:22) we see that God recognized the transaction for He says: "Israel is My son, even My firstborn." Do you, do I value what God has given to us or do we despise His Word? Esau valued one meal more than all that was his for life. He prized the immediate present more than all the future. Are you thinking only of the present?
One of the things we are told never to sell is, "the truth." Prov. 23:2323Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding. (Proverbs 23:23). "Buy the truth, and sell it not." In the prayer of Jesus to the Father in John 17:1717Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. (John 17:17), He says, "Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth." We have the Word of God and we ought to value it above any other possession.
Every Christian has his own duties and responsibilities and each of us buy and sell. Plans and decisions are made in these things regularly. The little practical book of James has good instruction for us in this. We quote:
“Go to now, ye that say, To-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that." James 4:13-1513Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: 14Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. 15For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. (James 4:13‑15).
We must take the Lord into all of our plans and acknowledge Him in everything. He knows all and we know very little. We have needs and He desires our confidence in Him to meet those needs. He delights to bless and we need the blessing. Ed.