Grateful Christian - First Fruits (part 3 of 3)

“Honor the Lord with your substance and with the first fruits of all your produce.” Proverbs 3:9

Understand that First Fruits have nothing to do with you being blessed, rather it is about faith.  God has blessed each of us with a unique talent, some of us with money, not so that we may have an easy life, a normal life, a life surrounded by mirrors, but rather so that we may be the first fruit and use His gifts to us so that we can help bring along the Second  Fruits.  To do that we must be willing to obey God completely (even if it means we must keep a promise we do not want to, or sacrifice something we desire, or think we deserve).  When we exercise our ‘God given right’ of following our own will over His, and hold on to all of the fruits He has blessed us with, we serve as a witness to the world that we neither recognize nor trust that He will provide for our needs in the future.

Are there any ways in which you might be taking back God's first fruits?  It is a simple question, with a simple method of examining your answer.  Look back on the last 3 months of your life, or even just the last month; how did you spent your time, how did you spent your money, what you did or did not say,  what you did or did not read or watch.  Whom you did or did not help.  

You are not commanded to give First Fruits, so when you sold all of your stuff that you no longer needed or wanted, on eBay, Craigslist or at a yard sale, it was not a sin, when you decided to sleep an extra half hour instead of actually reading the bible, when you decided to watch television instead of speeding a little more time in prayer, or when you decided to not volunteer to use your skills to help the church, these are not sins; but they do reveal a desire to look at mirrors instead of through windows.  

If asked, what would those who know you, say if they were asked if you gave away your First Fruits?  If it isn’t the same answer as yours then perhaps it is time you applied your knowledge and grew in wisdom. 

Because while knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is knowing not to serve it in a fruit salad.  And with Wisdom you get closer to knowing 'what is Christianity'.