Readings for today: Deuteronomy 24-27
Gratitude. Thanksgiving. Remembering all the things the Lord has done for you. My wife and I are currently enjoying some time up in the mountains. It’s her spring break and a dear family in our church generously offered their condo for us to stay in for the week. As we were eating dinner our first night here, we started talking about all the blessings we’ve been given in our lives. We talked about when we first got married. We had no money. We were living on minimum wage in Boulder, CO at the time. We had no real plan. My grades from college were so bad no seminary would take me. We had experienced significant loss. Our firstborn son, Caleb, didn’t survive past twenty-two weeks in the womb. We had no idea where life would take us. But we did know one thing. We knew God. We knew God was faithful. We knew God was with us. And we knew if we sought God’s will and walked in His ways, our lives would be rich and full. This really is the secret to the Christian life. Seek God’s Kingdom and His righteousness first and all the rest will be added to you. Take care of the things God cares about first and He will take care of the things you care about. Put God first in your schedule, in your finances, in your priorities and you will find Him filling your heart and your hands to overflowing with His blessings.
This is why the principle of first-fruits is so important. Before we do anything else, we offer to God the first and best of the fruit of our labor. For ancient Israel, this meant the first-fruits of their harvest and the first-fruits of their flocks and herds and the first-fruits of the tribute they won in battle. For us, it looks like the first-fruits of our paychecks or the first-fruits of the interest we earn on our investments. We do not give because God needs it. He doesn’t. We do not even give because God commands it though He most certainly does. No, we give out of gratitude for all He has done for us. Listen again to the prayer every ancient Israelite made when they came to make their offering of first-fruits to the Lord. “A wandering Aramean was my ancestor, and he went down to Egypt and lived there as a foreigner with a household few in number, but there he became a great, powerful, and numerous people. But the Egyptians mistreated and oppressed us, forcing us to do burdensome labor. So we cried out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, and he heard us and saw our humiliation, toil, and oppression. Therefore the Lord brought us out of Egypt with tremendous strength and power, as well as with great awe-inspiring signs and wonders. Then he brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. So now, look! I have brought the first of the ground’s produce that you, Lord, have given me.” Then you must set it down before the Lord your God and worship before him. You will celebrate all the good things that the Lord your God has given you and your family, along with the Levites and the resident foreigners among you.” (Deuteronomy 26:5-11 NET) God made them a great and powerful and numerous people. God delivered them from humiliation and toil and oppression. God brought us to a land flowing with milk and honey. Because God did all these good things for us, we give out of gratitude and celebration.
So let’s talk about giving for a moment. Do you give regularly and faithfully to the Lord? Do you prayerfully consider what to give and do you give it cheerfully or out of a sense of duty or obligation? Do you give God the first-fruits of your labor or what’s leftover at the end of a pay period? When you give, do you take time to remember and celebrate and thank the Lord for all He has done for you? Let me encourage and challenge you to spend some time praying over these questions today and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you as you reflect on what God is calling you to give.
Readings for tomorrow: Deuteronomy 28-30