“Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.”

The "Be Generous" Challenge has been really, really good. Our heart behind the challenge as a church is that we might come out of this season looking more like Jesus, both individually and collectively, as it relates to living a lifestyle of generosity. We see in scripture that those who followed in the way of Jesus were marked by a lifestyle of generosity. Our prayer is that God would cultivate that in us as well.

Today, our reading plan takes us to Proverbs. The Book of Proverbs is awesome. It is written by Solomon and gives us instructions on how to live.

Sometimes in church, we can hear words and phrases that are really common to church and are all throughout scripture, like “honor” for example. We even see it here in this passage. “Honor the Lord with your wealth...” and we tend to think, yep, I got it. Honor the Lord with my wealth, cool, I really want to. But, truthfully, for so many of us, it stops there, because we aren’t exactly sure what that means we should do next.

Keep reading, and Solomon tells us how we honor the Lord with our wealth. ….” with the first fruits of all your crops;” The first fruits refer to the practice of giving to God the first and best portion of the harvest. (See Deuteronomy 26:9-11)

Here is why this practice is important: it demonstrates that God, not our possessions, has the first place in our lives and that our resources belong to Him. It helps us conquer greed and properly manage the resources that He has entrusted us with. It also opens us up to receive God’s special blessing. You see, when you give something, you open your hand. Well, in order to receive something, your hand must be opened.

Now, I want to be careful here, because we do not give to get. But, God’s word is clear. When we give, we will be blessed. It does something to us. He gives us the playbook. May we be courageous enough to follow it. Before we do anything else, we give our first fruits to Him!

This is a very practical conversation. It also requires intentionality and some planning. If you work and have a job, you generally have an idea of when your payday is. Don’t be surprised by it. Be prepared for it. When you get paid, before anything else happens, give your first fruits back to God. Write the check, give it online, however you want to do it, but, when God blesses us with a new crop, before we do anything else, let’s give the first fruits of that crop right back to Him!

Reflection:

• Is giving a regular practice for you? Do you give of your first fruits or of what is left?
• What do you need to do to begin to give of your first fruits?

Family Application: Proverbs 3:9-10

• Read Proverbs 3:9-10.
• The purpose of the book of Proverbs is to impart wisdom for Godly living. Proverbs covers a wide range of topics, including how to handle our money. Proverbs 3:9 tells us to “honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops.” Have you ever found yourself talking to your kids about giving to the Lord, only to feel extremely unequipped in answering the questions they are firing back? This is a great verse to help us with that.
• How do we honor the Lord with our wealth? Proverbs 3:9 tells us, with the first fruits of our crops.
• If your kids have chores that they do around the house to earn an allowance, consider paying them in 10 one-dollar bills. Teach them to give the first fruits of their crops by giving one of those ten dollars to God before they do anything else with the money. Giving to God first helps us conquer greed, manage what God has given us properly, and open us up to receive God’s blessing.
• Pray together: Dear God, help us to model the giving of our first fruits to our kids. Lord, grant us the wisdom to create situations for our kids to practice giving. Cultivate in us a heart of gratitude and generosity. Amen.