What are “firstfruits”? They are simply the first crops to be reaped from the harvest. In the Old Testament, “firstfruits” were mentioned several times and they are always brought to either the Lord, the house of the Lord or to the priests.
I’m aware that we are not bound by the law of the Old Testament anymore, but I do find many beliefs and customs in the Old Testament that can be beneficial for us today. Our firstfruits of any kind should be cherished and we should choose wisely what we do with them.
Firstfruits of our Gardens
I’ve heard stories of people and known people personally who always made it a point to bring the first batch of harvest from their gardens to their Pastor. Since the first time I heard of someone doing this, I loved the idea! I have a little more insight than most people because I’m married to a Pastor. I see the hard work and dedication that goes into that role, not just on Sunday, but every day of the week. I also grow a garden almost every year and I know that it takes a lot of work and after all that labor, it feels good to bite into that first crop! I think bringing the firstfruits of your garden to your Pastor is one way that you can make a sacrifice to God while also honoring the Man of God and saying “thank you” for all that he does. It’s also a way to honor God and say, “Lord, you have blessed me with this Man of God and I’m thankful for him and his ministry and the effort that he pours into our church. I want to honor You and him by bringing him the first harvest of my garden.”
Firstfruits of our Time
When I first started implementing this into my own life, it made such a huge impact for me. I am not a morning person and when I first became a mother, I would sleep until the baby/kids woke up and then I would slide out of bed and start my day when they did. Sure, I got extra sleep this way, but I also found that I was very grumpy and short-tempered with my kids. I felt like they had woke me up and interrupted my sleep and I would feel a hint of bitterness toward them. To make things worse, now everyone was up and ready for food and I didn’t have any time to fill my cup before I started pouring into everyone else.
So, I started waking up before my kids and spending those quiet morning hours with the Lord, and man, what a difference. It was a two-way street. I was giving the firstfruits of my time to God and, in return, He was filling my cup so that I had enough to pour into my family.
God deserves the firstfruits of our time. He deserves uninterrupted time with us to build our relationship and learn of Him and we need to be intentional about carving out that uninterrupted time to devote solely to Him.
Firstfruits of our Energy
Going along with the firstfruits of our time is the firstfruits of our energy. Do you remember learning about pie charts in school? The entire circle represents 100% and each divided section represents a certain percentage. You start each day with a new pie chart of energy and you only have that allotted 100% of energy to “spend” that day. If I start my day and go straight into “spending” my energy cooking, cleaning, working, taking care of kids, etc., before I know it, my pie chart is empty and I’ve spent all my allotted energy for that day on temporal things and I don’t have any left over for the most important One. He is beyond deserving of our very best, not what’s left over at the end of the day after everything else is done.
We have so many different “firstfruits” in our lives and I encourage you to take some time to pray and ask God how you can do better at giving your firstfruits to Him. You might also pray about how you can bless your Pastor or some Man of God in your life with some firstfruits. Those Men of God are definitely a blessing that we don’t need to take for granted and we need to make an effort to bless them when and how we can.
If you want to talk more about this, as always, reach out to me brannigan@fromonebeggartoanother.com!
