ASLC Devotions - Tuesday

Deuteronomy 26:1-2 When you have come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, and you possess it, and settle in it, you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name.

This chapter lays out all the rules and procedures and justifications for the tithe - for offering to God's service one tenth of all that you have and all that you produce. I love that it calls us to take some of the FIRST of all the fruit of the grand, the FIRST of the harvest... and bring that to the Lord's house. God calls on us to bring what we've come to call the firstfruits.

But what exactly are the firstfruits? I guess it's exactly what it sounds like... the first of your harvest. What does it mean for those of us who aren't really farmers? It means the best. It means that you prioritize giving to God over anything else - including giving to self. It means that when giving to the food pantry, we don't give the leftover can of peas we were never going to eat anyway and we don't remember when we bought them. Instead we give what we prize the most - we give the food we actually wanted. Instead of making giving the thing we do when there's something (or some time) left over... giving is the first thing on our minds. It's simply a way of looking at the world - a way of walking in the world - a way of walking generously.

In Christ,
Pastor Seth

Worship with us at 5 pm Saturday or 9 am Sunday. More information about all of our ministries is available at http://www.allsaintspalatine.org