It's important at the beginning of a new year and season, to slow down and take the time to dedicate all your pursuits to the Lord.
The “first” of something is often significant. It symbolizes your priorities. By giving God your first and your best (see scriptures below) you're pretty much saying this is the beginning, there’s more where that came from. What does it look like to prioritize the first and the best of this 2023 year to the Lord? To prioritize this year’s visions and dreams for him? Each day’s best hours to him? Your life’s energy and focus on him? Your entertainment, the books you read, or movies you watch this year to him? The relationships you invest in? The priorities of your vocational goals for his purposes? Your financial commitments? How can you offer these as “first” to the Lord?
Giving is honoring
Giving God your first and your best does not come with a guarantee that you will get something better in return. It is a sacrifice. You are giving away your best to the Lord; again, you are saying with your actions, the best of all that I am belongs to King Jesus. You are pledging your life’s allegiance to the Lord and demoting yourself as the recipient of the resources you could have swallowed for yourself.
God shared some provocative words with people who were offering him second-rate sacrifices and damaged goods;
“When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty… My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to me, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord Almighty. Malachi 1:8, 11.
He is a worthy King who deserves gifts that bring him honor and not half-hearted gifts that bring him disrepute. He did not hold his best sacrifice back from us (Romans 8:32) and expects that we will honor him with our deepest devotion and sacrifice.
Giving is trusting
When my wife and I served as missionaries, we learned to tithe money to the Lord even when we were giving away the very money we needed to pay the next bill. It came with no guarantee that any more finances would come in. In a very tangible sense, this is an act of risk and faith. If I give away my first and my only, what if I don’t receive any more? What if I give generously and end with scarcity? Generosity is living in faith that God will provide.
Take some extra time at the beginning of this year to slow down and dedicate 2023, and all of your pursuits, to the Lord.
Check out these Biblical examples of “firsts”
- Jesus the firstborn. Jesus was called God’s firstborn and the firstborn from among the dead; “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters” Romans 8:29.
- Wisdom. Wisdom was called the first of God’s acts of creation, “The Lord brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old” Proverbs 8:22.
- First month. The first month of the religious year, the Israelites were to remember their deliverance through the Passover celebration, “In the first month on the fourteenth day you are to observe the Passover” Ezekiel 45:21.
- Firstfruits. The Lord commanded the people to “bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God” Exodus 23:19.
- First of wealth. “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops” Proverbs 3:9.
- Firstborn son. Jacob’s son Reuben was called “my firstborn, my might, the first sign of my strength” Genesis 49:3.
- Firstborn child. The Israelites were instructed to dedicate their firstborn child to the Lord. “Do not hold back offerings from your granaries or your vats. You must give me the firstborn of your sons” Exodus 22:9.
- First of the week. The Christian community took up offerings on the first day of the week, “On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made” 1 Corinthians 16:2.
Tags: jesus, god, sacrifice, king, worthy, honor, first, best, dedicate, 2023
