ABOUT
FIRST FRUIT HARVEST: Devotion for Sunday September 4, 2016
Text:
Deuteronomy 26:1 – 11 Memory verse: Deuteronomy
26:2
First fruit harvest is an injunction from God
who ordered the Israelis to do it and by extension we the new Israel. God gave
His people the injunction to present their first fruit of all their produce to
Him (Deut. 26:2). From out text, it was obvious that this injunction from God
to the Israelis is in order not to forget the source of their blessings. It is
a way of showing gratitude to God from who all our blessings comes from. This
injunction is from the covenant God made with Israel (Ex. 34:26, 27).
In Deut. 26:2–11 is the instructions on how to
carry out our first fruit harvest. We are expected to pick some of all produce
of our land, put them in a basket and take them to the church and offer them to
the Lord. The Priest will receive them from our hands and bless us. It should
not be taken to any other place.
There are lessons for us in this our
scriptural reading for today. They are (a) God is the source of all we have and
all we are. Our successes are not out of our strength, our business acumen, our
intelligence, etc. If it were so, there wouldn’t have been poor people
because majority of the poor in our society today labour for almost 24 hour of
every day in the week. If not God’s grace and favour, what can
we achieve? He blesses our little effort and turns it to become a mighty
blessing. Yesterday’s
devotion attests to this.
(b) It is a sign of regard, honour for and
obedience to God (Prov. 3:9). When we set aside our first fruit as God demands
from us, we are honouring God and He in turn will honour us (1 Sam. 2:30).
(c) It teaches us that we have responsibilities
towards God. It makes us responsible to God who made us, gave us those
blessings and to the less privileged ones; the strangers, the priests, the
widows, etc, that we have around us. It is also a way of sowing seeds for a
better and a greater harvest. How are you doing these? Let it be with a
cheerful heart and not grudgingly because God loves a cheerful giver. Happy
first fruit harvest to those celebrating today!
Food
for Thought:
Proverbs 3:9
Prayer: My
Lord and my Father, may I always honour you with my substances because they all
come from you in Jesus name.
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