First Fruits

I am reading a most interesting book "This Blessed Life" (a gift from our son-in-law) which is teaching the value of giving our first fruits. Left-overs are not first fruits. First fruits are our best that we can give.

Malachi 3:10 "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this," Says the LORD of hosts, "If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you blessings That there will not be room enough to receive it."

The Lord is challenging us to give to Him our best. Our tithes. Why? So there will be food in His house. I translate this as the church. So should I give just so God blesses me, and I will see what the return is? Of course not, I should give because I love the Lord and He gave His all for me!! The blessings will come, but if my focus is on my return from my tithe, then my focus is wrong. My focus needs to be on Him not on me! And if I am more concerned about my returns than on honoring God and blessing others , then I need a focus change.

Food for Thought: God rejected Cain's offering but accepted Abel's offering because He gave the first fruits.

Lord, help me to bring my offering to your storehouse and not mine. If I store it in my storehouse it will rust and thieves will break in and steal.

Note: I'm feeling ok again. Patrick is home from Haiti. He had a good trip. I'm glad to have him home.

God bless you