Giving Your Best
Verse: Exodus 34:26
“Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God.”
Devotional:
In this verse, the Lord tells Moses how to celebrate the Feast of Weeks and Ingathering. (This is the time of the firstfruits of the wheat harvest.) The idea here is to take the best, the choicest, the select, the finest (the ‘first’) of what you produce and present it to the Lord. But in the modern, industrialized society sometimes this principle gets lost. Most of us don’t harvest wheat or raise goats or lambs. So how do we exercise this principle today?
An old friend of mine told me she made a covenant with the Lord to give the best part of her day to Him, every day. So, upon arising each morning, before she turns on the TV, listens to music, or even gets into an extended conversation with her husband, she spends time with the Lord in prayer and study. I have another friend who says he intentionally tucks his slippers under the bed each night so in order to get them in the morning he must roll out of bed and immediately drop to his knees to fetch them. He says, “Since I'm already on my knees, I might as well talk to Jesus.”
I don’t know about you, but I find the early morning the best time of the day. As the sun rises, the birds begin to sing, the chill from the night begins to warm, my heater automatically kicks on, and, if I listen intently, I can hear the glorious sound of the coffee pot perking. But also, as I get older, I find my body is renewed and my mind is at its freshest in the early morning. This is the time of day where my wife and I pray and study and talk. The subjects can be wide-ranging, from the current world situation, to our grandchildren, to our personal concerns. We find the firstfruits of the day the best part of the day and have personally chosen to dedicate this time to the Lord.
So, what’s your ‘firstfruits?’
Challenge:
If your ‘firstfruits’ involve time, take a serious look at the hours of your day, the days of the week, and identify your firstfruits. How about at work? Or, are your firstfruits getting a cup of coffee and reading a newspaper? How can you dedicate that time instead to the Lord? Can you go talk to another employee who needs help with a task? Or, can you see where a neighbor could use some help with something? Not time? Maybe you own a business that provides a product or service. What are the ‘firstfruits’ of these that you can dedicate unto the Lord? See where this goes. Write your thoughts down here at http://www.generouslife.net/day46.
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