ARE YOU BRINGING FIRST FRUITS OR AFTER THOUGHTS?
These were the words that I saw in an email the other day, and it was very
challenging to me to think about. The things that I bring to the LORD should be an
act of worship, nurturing and witnessing. In the devotional by Kenneth Boa,
Handbook to Renewal: Renewing Your Mind with Affirmations from Scripture, he
states “I will honor the Lord with my wealth and with the first fruits of all my
increase. Proverbs 3:9”
I would like to challenge each of us. The Lord through His death and resurrection
has given all of us who believe in Him, faith. Do we honor Him with the first
fruits of our faith, or do we just give Him the after thoughts (or leftovers) of our
faith? What do I mean by that? Faith is not only a belief system, (I believe in Jesus
and that is enough.) Friend, faith is also an action word, and the Lord asks for
action from us.
I like what EDMUND P. CLOWNEY says in his book CONTOURS of
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY “The Lord does not ask for references commending us
for his service. He calls us—not because he needs us, but because we need him. Yet
we cannot know him without also serving him. The church is called to serve God in
three ways: to serve him directly in worship; to serve the saints in nurture; and to
serve the world in witness.”
James 2:14-20 tells us that if we have faith and don’t use it to do good deeds
(worship, nurture and witness) our faith is dead.
By: Pastor Steve Eicher
