Bryce Crawford tells Liberty U students not to trade in their 'inheritance' for sin, passivity

By Ryan Foley, Christian Post Reporter Monday, October 05, 2026

Christian influencer Bryce Crawford urged students at Liberty University not to “take the bait” by trading their “inheritance” from God for the short-term satisfaction of sin and warned about the perils of "passivity" when it comes to sharing Jesus Christ with others. 

Crawford, 22, spoke at a Liberty University convocation in Lynchburg, Virginia, on Sept. 25. Following a video introduction from his wife, Maddie, Crawford read aloud from Genesis 25 and reflected on the passage.

In Genesis 25, a famished Esau asks his brother, Jacob, for some of the stew Jacob is cooking. Jacob agrees only if Esau first sells him his birthright, the inheritance due to him as the firstborn son. “I’m reading this, and I’m just like, dude, you’re about to sell like everything that you’re about to inherit for like some soup,” Crawford said.

“He’s the successor of two-thirds of Isaac’s wealth, and he’s going to inherit this spiritual blessing that God has promised Abraham. And he gave all that up for some soup,” Crawford reiterated.

“This is happening today, it’s happening in America, and frankly, it could be happening in your life,” Crawford insisted. “You right now could be compromising for things in your life because you don’t want to give it up. And you are not focused on the inheritance that you receive with Christ.”

“We got a lot of technology. We got a lot of crazy stuff,” Crawford added. “And a lot of people are spewing a whole lot of junk online and it is going to be so easy for you to go ‘Well, I’m going to give up all this stuff that God has best for my life because I want to be approved by my friend group, I just don’t want them to get upset at me.’”

Crawford described the inheritance Christians receive as “His presence and just knowing Him” and a “relationship with the guy that created me.” He lamented that many people decide, “I’m going to give this up because I just don’t want to stop having sex outside of marriage.”

He connected those contemporary examples to the account of Esau and Jacob.

“You could be the guy selling yourself out right now. You could be selling yourself short.”

“Every time we sin, we block out what God has for us, and we just focus on what’s right in front of us. We can’t take the bait,” he said. “That bait could be greed, pride, power, lust, whatever it may be.”

While Crawford acknowledged those temptations, he said that “the biggest bait right now that we’re facing amongst Christians in America is passivity.” He characterized passivity as wishing that “God does something” and hoping that “God will move.”

“Passivity slaps God in the face just as much as you committing an act of sin like pride, lust, power, because you’re opting out of what God has for you,” he maintained. “You have [the] sin of commission, then you have the sin of omission. You’re opting out.”

Crawford said Christianity has entered what he called a “weird uptrend” in which it has “become popular” and “more people want to go to church.” But he rejected both the idea that “we’re on a crazy uptrend” and the premise that “we’re on a decline.”

Instead, he argued that “people are in this weird mundane area where they don’t know what to do with their faith because it’s not just about this emotional high.”

“If you really care about the inheritance that you receive, the greatest form of gratitude is preaching the Gospel,” Crawford said. “You were not called to just like keep that inheritance for yourself and just like let it be.”

“You are actually called to share that with as many people as you possibly can in the spheres of influence that God has trusted you with, with the gifts God has given you because He’s given you gifts for a reason," he added.

Crawford said Christians shouldn't just hope someone else does something to help another person find faith.

“You can do something about it," he said. "Like, stop waiting for somebody else to do it. You do it. God has given you gifts. God has given you gifts that I don’t have. God has given you gifts that your friends don’t have. So use your gifts to fill the gap in the way that you can fill the gap. God has called you to do that.”

The social media influencer likened the desire to “opt out” of sharing the Gospel in the hope that someone else will “do it” to the “stew” in Genesis 25.

“I just think that’s a total copout," he said. "I really do because you have been called for a purpose to love God and love people. And if you aren’t loving the people around you with the gifts God has given you, you are copping out.”

“If you are someone in this room who has heard about Jesus, you come to convocation twice a week, you take Bible classes on campus, you go to Bible studies off campus, you go to church on Sunday because it’s the right thing to do but you don’t follow Jesus and you’re choosing other things […] over Jesus, you’re copping out. You’re eating the stew,” he continued. 

The root issue highlighted in Genesis 25 remains the same despite new technology, the influencer said, calling the iPhone “the biggest gateway drug in all of society" that enables people to “get large amounts of sin in a short amount of time.”

He called young Americans “the most anxious, depressed generation in all of human history.”

“What does that say?” he asked. “Obviously, what we think is best for our life ain’t working out.”