The First Commandment: Statues and Precepts (47)
Exodus 23.19
“The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God.”
Proverbs 3.9, 10
Our text emphasizes that the first (Hebrew: “the head”) of our firstfruits are to go to the Lord. This did not require a length process of selecting, comparing, and getting one’s ducks in a row where the firstfruits of the tithe were concerned. Giving to the Lord should be simple and automatic. Just take the “head” of your blessings, whether goods or income, and set it aside for the Lord. Of course, we should think and pray over our giving, making sure that we are investing in the best Kingdom enterprises, and consecrating our gifts to the Lord with prayer and rejoicing. But the discipline of it is not complex: Just give the firstfruits.
The way we practice giving to the Lord says as much, and perhaps more, about our relationship with Him as the mere fact that we give.
T. M. Moore
The Law of God is the soil which, fertilized by the rest of God’s Word and watered by His Spirit, brings forth the fruit of Christian life. If you’d like to understand this process better, and how to make best use of the Law in your walk with and work for the Lord, order the book, The Ground for Christian Ethics, from our online store.
Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
