Daily Devotions
First-fruits
Reading for March 1st: Deuteronomy 26-27
"When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance and have taken possession of it and live in it, you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from your land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket, and you shall go to the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there. And you shall say to him, 'I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come into the land that the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.' Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God."
Deuteronomy 26:1-4
How do we know what is first in our heart? There are several objective measures we could use.
1. What is the first thing that comes to our mind when our mind is free to think and meditate? Whatever we think about first, is probably the most important thing to us at that given time.
2. Where do you invest your time and energy? Nothing is more valuable to us than our time. If you have a list of things to do in your week, the most important things are revealed by the amount of time we put into them.
3. Where do you put your money and other resources? This is obvious, is it not? Nothing exposes our priorities more than our banking statements each month.
It may be that after taking inventory of how you spend your mental energy, your time, and your money, that you realize the Lord is not first in your heart. What can you do?
Jesus said that where our treasure is (i.e. where we invest our mind, body, and possessions) that our heart will be there also (Matthew 6:21). The answer is that we need to give the Lord the first fruits of every asset that is ours to give. If we do that, our heart will follow.
Father, you have given us everything in Jesus Christ. We offer back to you the first-fruits of what you so graciously have given to us.
