Words Of Encouragement To Start The Day (Tuesday 01/04/2011)

What Are You Doing With Your First?

Exodus 22:29-31 (New Living Translation)

²⁹ “You must not hold anything back when you give me offerings from your crops and your wine. “You must give me your firstborn sons. ³⁰ “You must also give me the firstborn of your cattle, sheep, and goats. But leave the newborn animal with its mother for seven days; then give it to me on the eighth day. ³¹ “You must be my holy people. Therefore, do not eat any animal that has been torn up and killed by wild animals. Throw it to the dogs.

            The first few days of this new year I have begun to establish some habits, goals and behaviors that I want to be embedded in my life from here on out.  They say to establish habits you need about twenty-one days.  So I have begun the journey to make over some things I felt lead to change.  At the end of last year, I felt that it was important to begin habits and ensure that I made changes, at the beginning of the year, that were a part of my plan and vows for the remainder of the year.  Our Pastor said something in Church Sunday that inspired me to stay focused all the more; he said, “What you do with the first is what will decide what happens with the lump or the remainder.

            For many of us our first days in the New Year were far from establishing a closer walk with God, they were days spent hung over  and recovering from parties, and a lot of other things.  For many of us we think that we have time to turn it around, or to change, or give God His. But God is just like Federal Tax, it should be coming off the top.  He should be getting the untouched part of us and the untouched part of our year. We think that we will evolve over time and that no real sacrifice needs to be adapted for change to come. But what are we doing with the first days and weeks of this New Year?  Has God become a larger part of our vision for the future, has He become a larger portion of our decision making, or are we still winging it? Are we focused on giving more of ourselves to God, our families and to do more to be a part of the solution instead of part of the problem? An offering of our first fruit shows our commitment, our loyalty and our love for God. It shows that we acknowledge the fact that He needs to be at the head of all that we do. But often times we miss that our first should go to Him, we think we should do it our way, and then give God a shot at it after we mess it up or realize that we cannot make it without His support and blessings upon our life.  We miss the fact that everything that we have comes from God, and all He is asking is that we acknowledge Him first and offer Him our very best first before it is all picked over, ran through or wasted.

            What are you doing with these first days, and weeks of the year?  What will you offer God as your first fruits? For what you give to God, now in these first days, very well will determine what comes later in the year and in what quantities.  Give of yourself in these days, to God and  to others, ensuring that what you are giving as your first fruits, will support and undergird your plans for the days ahead through, acknowledgement, obedience and love for  God our Father. Proverbs 3:5-7, says, “ ⁵ Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. ⁶ Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. ⁷ Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil.”  It is better to give God the first and let Him give, direct and enlarge, then not to and fall, fail, struggle and be lost the remaining parts of the year!