The Lord God remembered Israel, He said” I remember you, the love of your betrothal, When you went after me in the wilderness, In the land that was not sown. Israel was holiness to the Lord, The first fruit of His increase. All that devour him will offend; Disaster will come upon them,” says the Lord.” [Jere.2:1-3]. Israel is very special to God. There are other places in the bible that says people will be in trouble if they mess with Israel. Disaster will come upon them. We as Christians are an extension of the people of God. Remember He grafted us in to the first fruit. He is very protective of, the first of everything. The Lord said “I will contend with him that contendeth with thee and I will save thy Children”[Is. 45:29].
The first commandment of the Big 10, make it very clear we are to put God First. “You shall have no other gods before Me” [Exodus 20:3]. Anything or person we put before Him, is our god, if it is the Family, money, T.V., or Dallas Cowboys. He wants to be first in our lives. Not for Him but for us. He knows what is best for us. If we put Him first of all, it helps us get out of ourselves. If we really put Him first, all other things will fall into place. A lot of things will fade away.
“Honor the Lord with your possessions, and with the first fruits of all your increase. So your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine”[Prov. 3:9]. Too much to share in this short article, but your tithe is the first part of your income. Not what you have left after you pay all the bills you have made. In the New Testament barns represent our financial status and new wine represents the Holy Spirit in our lives. When someone is regularly broke - ask, what happen to their first fruit, their tithe. The tithe is the first 10% of all our increase. Remember God gave the whole wonderful Garden of Eden to Adam and Eve. All he asked was that they give Him that one tree. They rebelled and brought sin down on all mankind. God gave us the ability to get wealth”[Deut. 8:18]. And some refuse to give Him 10%! If people say or teach that Tithing is just Old Testament, the Law of the word, they just haven’t studied the Bible. Tithing was before the law and brought over into the N.T. “ For if the first fruit is Holy , the lump is Holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches”[Rom.11:16].
When people are down in the dumps and depressed - ask, what did they did with the first part of their day, do they pray, seek God while He may be found. Let Him be first in their day? One of the reasons God created us, is He wants to have fellowship with us. He is not our “Cosmic Bellhop” to only call in time of need. He loves us so much He wants to be a part of our lives.
Some say, well, we don’t have to tithe to be a Christian! No, not unless you want the blessings that go along with being obedient to the word of God. They say, giving God the first of our time every day is not necessary. No, not unless you want the blessings that go along with being obedient to the word of God. As we start this New Year we do not want to just make new resolutions, we want to make new commitments. Everything God has done and everything He ask of us is for our own good. God is not a god of “Let’s Make A Deal” He is the deal and His word explains His deal. Let’s let Him be first in this New Year! Our “First Fruit” He does not need anything we have, He is in Heaven and has it “Made in the Shade.” No He ask the first of everything in our life, to cause us to be more like Him. Let’s make a quality decision in the beginning of this “New Year” and in our lives put Him and His word as “First of all”