Fertile Ground, part 9

First Fruits
It is always exciting to go out to the garden just for a look only to come back with that first armload of produce. My garden never ceases to astound me. No matter how much I neglect it, it still plugs away at completing it's God-programmed mission. The seeds sprout, the plants mature, the fruits appear and eventually feed our family. Granted, if I actually spend time tending the plants, they are likely to produce significantly better. But that is another discussion.

Hauling in a heap of beans and more snow peas than I know what to do with started me thinking about what the Old Testament says about "first fruits".

• "The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God." Exodus 23:19
• "And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O LORD, have given me." Deuteronomy 26:10
• "Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce;" Proverbs 3:9

Many of us have had it wrong. The paycheck comes in and we designate a prescribed amount for The Lord. But that is not how the scenario works out in my garden. When I bring in the first fruits, I have no idea what the final yield will be. So to give the Lord of the first fruits of my garden would be an estimated guess at best. For that guess to be accurate-- or perhaps appropriate would be a better word--I need to consider how much time and effort I am planning on spending to make the garden a success. I also would want to err on the generous side, so as not to cheat the Lord out of what is rightfully His, especially since He provided it all in the first place.

It gets a little trickier when trying to apply the "first fruits principle" to the other things that we might tithe: time, talents, resources, etc. I know beforehand that I will have 1440 minutes in each day. I also know with a fair amount of certainty what the paycheck is going to be each week. In those cases, giving the first fruits becomes more a case of not counting the cost when I give to the Lord. Instead of setting aside 30 minutes for a spiritual quiet time in the morning, why not get completely immersed in listening to 1 Timothy and before I know it, I've finished Philemon! It might mean less time for the laundry (there I go with more excuses for avoiding the laundry!), but the payoff is immeasurable. Not only in my own life, but what kind of impact will it have on my girls when I tell them that the laundry isn't done because I was enjoying reading the Bible so much that I lost track of time?

Or a special need arises with a missionary or family in the church and instead of just plopping the allotted ten percent in the plate, why not give a little more and see what happens. Again the payoff is in the Lord's hands. It might mean we can't afford the cable tv for a couple of months, but imagine explaining to the kids why not. And imagine what it will put back into the harvest of my time!

Our lives tend to follow a pattern similar to the God-programmed mission of the garden. If we neglect our relationship with our Savior, our spiritual life suffers and so does every other aspect of our existence. Yes, we still manage to pay bills, teach our children and complete our other tasks. But when we give the Lord the firstfruits of our time and other resources, the final yield is often astonishing! When I spend that first portion of my day fellowshipping with and worshipping my Sovereign Creator, somehow the other tasks of the day seem to take care of themselves. Maybe I work more efficiently. Maybe a fresh perspective makes some of the jobs less important than I had originally thought. When I give generously to the Lord's work regardless of what the budget says, somehow the other financial responsibilities get taken care of. Maybe there is more overtime on the paycheck. Maybe a payment gets refunded unexpectedly. I can't really explain it.

But I do know that when I joyfully give of the firstfruits in my life to the Lord, the end result is always far greater than I could have imagined!