A friend of mine told me this story, he said: “In the morning, every morning, at the moment my eyes open, i try to make God the first person i speak to. i’ve got this idea in my head to give Him more than just an offering of money, but give my first fruits in everything. In light of that, i’ve been making an effort to give Him my first words in the morning and my last words at night, actually making Jesus my first and last of everyday. It’s more than praise with words, it’s attitude, it’s worship born out of the intent of my heart. Sometimes i have to think to speak, but more and more often i see that changing to something more natural and flowing.” Then he continued, “Like this morning, as i opened my eyes, before i even stretched and considered to myself if i had slept well or had any dreams, from my mouth i heard, “Thank you Jesus. You are the Lord, who is beautiful and strong in me.” The work of the Lord in my heart was evident in the moment, i couldn’t help but smile to myself.” When i heard his words, something deep resonated in my heart.

So, i thought i would give it a try. Amazingly, it wasn’t long before … i found myself feeling a deep satisfaction that worship was evident in me, praise and thanks to God was first in my mouth. After many days, i noticed that i didn’t always have to think to make it happen, i didn’t have to remember to speak to God first and last, as if it was an obligation. Speaking first to Him was a pleasure, out of the abundance of my heart, my mouth spoke. To reiterate, for a while, i did have to think to remember to speak to God first, and i did have to think to speak to Him last, but the intent of my heart was a righteous one, and slowly over time, i began to address God without having to labor to make it happen. A thought gradually dawned on me … this was a gift.

How many of us give God our first fruits of anything? The idea of First Fruits was a religious offering of the first agricultural produce of the harvest. In classical Greek, Roman, Hebrew, and Christian religions, the first fruits were offered to the temple or church. It was a kind of tithe, with the word tithe literally meaning a tenth, the concept meaning to … give a tenth part, especially for the support of the church. First Fruits meant to appropriately mark a portion of the produce of the field as belonging to God. For most American Christians, the first fruits offering has been reduced to merely giving part of our money, and i think for many if not most, even that is reluctant.

?Do we appropriately mark a portion of anything we say or do as belonging to God? ?Does it always have to be exactly 10 percent? Some folks seem to always be worrying over 10 percent of their money. Their attitude is “10 percent for God, and NINETY percent for ME!” And somehow, in our minds, giving a portion to God always centers around money. Oh boy, money, money, money. The chains of chaos and the hypnosis over money is amazing isn’t it?

Anyway, what about other parts of our lives? Does it dawn on us to give God a part of everything we do? Jesus said in Mark 12:29-31, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Hmmmm, i don’t see anything in that which speaks to a percentage of just our money. In fact, i don’t see the idea of percentage at all. Jesus said, “all”. All your breathing, all your thinking, all your feeling, and all your momentum. Oh, and love your neighbor as yourself. How you treat yourself is how you’ll treat your neighbor, so how do you love yourself? If we’re brutal to ourselves, chances are good we’ll treat our neighbor similarly, and if we’re kind to ourselves, again, chances are good we’ll be kind to our neighbor also.

It’s peculiar to me how, although we claim to believe the law is finished and accomplished, we use it, when it’s convenient, to define how much we give. Jesus said, not only “Follow me”, meaning “do life my way”, but to give Him our all, and let Him decide how much to give.

?What if we gave God the first fruits of our mouth everyday? ?What if, we who say the Lord is God and we live our lives in Christ to glorify God, what if we gave him our first and last words, everyday? That certainly doesn’t impact anyone’s wallet, so it shouldn’t be a big deal to do, right? Putting God first in the beginning and end of each day, wouldn’t that be a kind of first fruits?

This all may seem small, but try it, put God first and last in your day. Strangely, it’s not easy, but i can’t think of anyone, anywhere that i would rather have first or last in my day. And just exactly why do i think it’s not easy? Well, honestly, i think most of us are far more taken with ourselves than God. i believe that we think of ourselves, for ourselves, about ourselves far more than we think anything of God. i believe that we say with great words, “The Lord reigns supreme in my life,” but the actual details, if they could be seen and charted, tell another story.

Let’s try something: think of other ways we can make God first and last in everything we do. How about if God was the FIRST person we consulted before we called someone to get advice, instead of the last person we look for AFTER we’ve searched out a matter, AFTER the advice of our friends, AFTER we’ve looked it up on the internet, AFTER we’ve struggled and grappled with our circumstances? Maybe even AFTER we’ve completely failed, THEN we get around to asking for God’s counsel. What do you think so far? Here ends part one.