What Does It Mean To Give First Fruits?
"Honor the
Lord with your substance and with the first fruits of
all your produce; then your barns will be filled with
plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine." (Proverbs 3: 9-10)
Making
an offering to God of the first and best portion of all
we receive.
We do this both as a sign of our
love and in thanksgiving for all the many blessings we
have received. We offer not only the first fruits
of our financial resources, but a generous portion of
our time and talent as well. We give in proportion to
what we have received. This means we give from our
substance and not from our surplus. Giving only from
our surplus leads nowhere. It is an action which has no
power to transform either our values or our lives.
Giving from our substance requires a sacrifice and leads
to conversion of mind and heart.
Placing
God first in our lives.
This means making
God’s priorities our priorities. When we place our
loving Creator at the center of our life, we become more
prayerful, more focused on loving and caring for our
families and our neighbor in need and less preoccupied
with material things. In short, we find the true source
of happiness and fulfillment that we all seek and that
the Lord alone can provide. It’s been said that “People
make the time and find the money for what they value
most.” We must challenge each other, as disciples of
Jesus Christ, to value God above all else. This belief
will lead us to put our faith in action by finding the
time and money to promote God’s priorities because we
have made them our priorities as well.
Planning
our giving.
This way the Lord of our life
receives the first portion instead of what’s left over
in our wallet or purse when the basket passes our way on
Sunday morning. We generally plan the things in our
lives that are most important to us. When we plan our
giving, and set this money aside first, we demonstrate
the great importance that God and the support of the
Gospel have in our lives.
Acknowledging
our Creator as the source of all we have and all we are.
Everything we have ultimately has been given to us by
our God. We are called to be good stewards, caretakers,
or managers of these gifts by using them for God’s
purposes and priorities.
Acknowledging
our Creator as the source of all we have and all we are.
Everything we have ultimately has been given to us by
our God. We are called to be good stewards, caretakers,
or managers of these gifts by using them for God’s
purposes and priorities.
Putting
our trust, security and faith in God, instead of in
money and possessions.
When we give our gift
at the offertory, we are expressing our belief that God
will “make good” on the solemn and repeated promise
given to us that we would be taken care of. We trust in
faith that the 90% that may be left after we give our
gift will be enough for our material needs.
Giving
the way God gives and loving the way God loves.
From the beginning of time, our Creator has given
humankind the gifts of life and unconditional love. One
day our God saw fit to give the first fruits
of love for us, the sacrificial gift of an only son,
Jesus. Jesus gave his own life for us on the cross. He
set an example for us of giving unconditionally and of
sacrificing so that others might live. We walk in the
footsteps of Christ when we give sacrificially a part of
our substance so that others might live. The Scriptures
tell us that those who follow the example of Jesus will
be the first fruits of the redemption
(James 1:18 and Revelation 14:4).