Stewardship, Firstfruits

Stewardship, Firstfruits

In his book Vital Truths to Shape Your Life (Tyndale), Stuart Briscoe talks about the concept of "firstfruits," as in Proverbs 3:9 -- "Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops." Briscoe says: "Those for whom these Proverbs were originally written presented their offerings to the Lord in the course of their normal worship experience. They lived in an agrarian culture; their income was tied to flocks and crops. So as soon as they reaped their harvest, they took the first sheaf to the temple, and there they offered it before the Lord. They took the firstborn of all their flocks to the priests, and they actually committed the firstborn of their children to the service of the Lord.

"These were firstfruits. As God stipulated to the people of Israel, that offering was not to be whatever was left over after they had pleased themselves. In fact, they worshiped God right off the top -- with firstfruits.

"As a small boy I remember watching my father, who owned a grocery store, counting his earnings at the end of the day. I noticed that he put most of the money in one cash box and a smaller amount in another box. When I asked him why he did that he explained, 'Stuart, everything we have belongs to the Lord and he asks us to show that we understand that by giving back a portion to him and his work. If we don't do that it means we are keeping for ourselves that which really belongs to God. That's called stealing. So to make sure that does not happen, each day at the end of the day we put the Lord's portion in this box. It is his -- not ours!'

"The right way to give to the Lord is to present firstfruits -- off the top -- rather than leftovers -- off the bottom. If you establish a budget . . . you can ensure that giving has its rightful place by making the top item on your list of expenses 'Giving.'" (Truths to Shape Your Life)