Flight Paths

Today's post is by guest writer Doy Moyer.

Never speak evil. We are not to speak evil of anyone, including those in positions of power. Not even Michael the archangel would bring a railing accusation against the devil, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” (Jude 9) The powers that be are in God’s hands and judged according to His will and in His time; He will deal with them as He wills. When they fail to honor God, then He will judge them.

This is not to say that we endorse or appreciate everything about people in power. I have severe differences with many who make laws, and I try to leave no doubt as to where I stand on moral issues (like abortion or homosexual activity). However, as a Christian, I try to be careful about what I would say about those in authoritative positions, especially when I disagree with them. We can deal appropriately with the various issues without bringing railing accusations against those in power or dishonoring their position.

Remember the example of Jesus (1 Peter 2:21-25): “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously….”

If we are truly disciples of Jesus, then we will seek to follow this example. This ought to impact how we interact in person, on social media, or any other form of communication. Christians do not get to hide behind a wall so they can insult and revile. Even when being put to death in the most shameful and degrading way as a criminal by the ruling authorities, Jesus did not revile or insult, but rather offered forgiveness and died so that they can choose to enter into His grace.
 
Doy Moyer

Keith had major surgery a couple of springs ago and because of his profound deafness I was with him in the hospital as caregiver 24/7.  We don’t do real sign language, but it is easier for me to communicate with him after 45 years of gradually adapting to his increasing disability.  People who are not used to it simply do not know how, and reading lips is not the easy fix to the problem that most think.
            Unfortunately, this hospital stay coincided with the garden harvest.  The beans, squash, and cucumbers had already begun coming in.  While we were away that week, those vegetables continued to grow.  When we got home, the beans were a lost cause--thick, tough, stringy and totally inedible.  The squash looked like a brass band had marched through, discarding their bright yellow tubas beneath the large green leaves, and the cucumbers as if a blimp had flown over in labor and dropped a litter.  If we expected the plants to continue to produce, I had to pull those huge gourds.  That first morning home I picked and dumped 8 buckets full.
            Gardens are taskmasters.  They don’t stop when it doesn’t suit your schedule.  They don’t wait till you have a free moment.  You must reap the harvest when it is ready or you lose it.  Every morning in late May and early June I go out to see what the day holds for me.  Will I be putting up beans or corn or tomatoes?  Will we have okra for supper or do I need to pickle it?  Are the jalapenos ready for this year’s salsa?  Are the bell peppers big enough to stuff or do I need to chop some for the freezer?  Do I need to make pesto before the basil completely seeds out? 
            And then you look for other problems.  Has blight struck the tomatoes?  Do the vining plants have a fungus?  Have the monarch butterflies laid their progeny on the parsley plants?  Have the cutworms attacked the peppers?  Has the ground developed a bacteria that is killing off half the garden almost overnight?  Do things just need watering?
            Childrearing can be the same way.  Children don’t stop growing until it suits your schedule. They don’t wait till you have a free moment.  You must reap the harvest when it is ready or you lose it.
            God expects you to carefully watch those small plants.  He expects you to check for problems before they kill the plants, and nip them in the bud.  It is perfectly normal for a toddler to be self-centered, but somewhere along the way you must teach him consideration for others.  Are you watching for ways to overcome his innate selfishness and teach him to share? Do you have a plan to teach him generosity?  It won’t happen by itself--you have to do it.
            Are you examining your children every day for those little diseases—stubbornness, a hot temper, whining, disrespect, or the other side of the “leaf”—inordinate shyness, self-deprecation, pessimism.  God expects you to look for problems from the beginning and try to fix them so your child will grow into a happy, well-adjusted adult, able to serve Him without the baggage of character flaws that should have been caught when he was very small.  Parents who ignore these things, thinking they will somehow go away when he grows up, are failing in their duties as gardeners of God’s young souls.  Those things will not disappear on their own any more than nematodes and mole crickets will.
            He also expects you to make clear-eyed judgments.  He may be your precious little cutie-pie, but you need to take off your tinted glasses and take a good look at him.  If you ignore his problems because you are too smitten to see them, you do not love your child as much as you claim.  Whoever spares the rod, hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him, Prov 13:24.  When I ignore the blight in my garden, it’s because saving the garden isn’t important to me.
            Have you and your spouse ever just sat and watched your children play?  Have you ever given any thought at all to the things you might need to correct in them?  If your schedule is too busy for that, then you are too busy.  Period.  Your children will keep right on growing, and without your attentive care they may rot on the vine. 
            You are a steward of God’s garden.  The most important thing you can do today is take care of it.
 
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table… Psalms 128:3.
 
Dene Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.

In Luke 13:10-17, Jesus heals a woman with a "spirit of infirmity".  This spirit caused her to be bent over, unable to straighten up.  The healing was done on the sabbath, which caused a stir.  Jesus' answer, based out of Deut. 5:12-15 which told the Israelites that the Sabbath was to be a reminder being freed by God from Egyptian slavery, is extraordinary.  "What better day to free a daughter of Abraham?"  Today, I want to focus on a minor point.  

Jesus often healed in response to someone's act of faith.  "Your faith has made you whole" almost seems like the Lord's catchphrase.  This was not the case in this instance.  Jesus is teaching in the synagogue and sees this poor woman who had been suffering from this evil spirit for eighteen years.  He has compassion on her.  He heals her.  The compassion of the Lord is not surprising.

What is surprising is that this woman, bent over and surely in significant pain, unable to straighten up and surely mocked by unruly children everywhere, was in the synagogue on the Sabbath.  When I think of all the excuses I have used to miss a church service and compare them to her, I am ashamed.  Somehow "my back is sore" or "I'm just too rundown" doesn't seem nearly as valid.  

Jesus had compassion on her when He saw her.  He only saw her because she was at the synagogue service, despite her misery.  Maybe there is a lesson there.  
 
Hebrews 10:25  "Forsaking not the assembling of yourselves together, as the custom of some is . . ."

Lucas Ward

"Resolved, That the flag of the United States be made of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation."  It has changed now and again from that day over two centuries ago, but the American flag still means to us what it did then—a symbol of a new nation, no longer a colony belonging to a mad king.
            The thirteen red and white stripes represent the original thirteen colonies.  The fifty stars represent the fifty states in the union.  Even the colors are symbolic.  Red symbolizes hardiness and valor.  White symbolizes purity and innocence.  Blue symbolizes vigilance, perseverance, and justice.
            The symbolism of flags and banners is nearly as old as man himself.  In Num 2:2 we see that every tribe of Israel had a banner, a flag, which flew over their encampment.  Like the American flag, the images on the flags were symbolic.  Unfortunately we do not have a Biblical record of those symbols.  The best we can do are various rabbinic lists, and some of them do make sense.  The image on Judah’s banner, for instance, was supposedly a lion, taken from Jacob’s description of Judah in Gen 49:9 as a “lion’s whelp.”  Benjamin’s flag pictured a wolf, we are told, based on his description as a “scavenging wolf” in 49:27.  The odd thing to me is that some of these symbols are anything but complimentary.  Dan’s symbol, for example, is a snake:  Dan shall be a serpent in the way, An adder in the path, That bites the horse's heels, So that his rider falls backward.  49:17.
            And so I found myself wondering what if God ordered a flag act, requiring us to fly a banner outside every meetinghouse?  What would be on them?  What would represent our “tribe” of God’s people?
            I wonder if we could somehow depict the city of Gibeah (Judg 19) on every flag outside an unwelcoming group of brethren, people who ignored the ones who weren’t dressed well or who showed up in leather and covered in tattoos?  Maybe we could put a whitewashed sepulcher on the flags of those who sit in the pews on Sunday but live like the Devil the rest of the week.  Perhaps phylacteries would be the picture on the flag of those congregations who could quote verse after verse, but who never served their neighbors or each other.  Maybe we could put a big puff adder on the flag of those who were “conceited and puffed up” with “an unhealthy craving for controversy,” 1 Tim 6:4.  And don’t forget one with a rendition of Judas kissing Jesus for those congregations who betray God by ignoring His authority in all they do.
            It would certainly be handy wouldn’t it, far better than those “directories.”   Then we could look for flags showing foot washing—truly a church of servants.  We could look for flags depicting an open Bible for those known for their love of the Truth and spreading it.  We could even look for embroidered hearts denoting love and sincerity. 
            I am sure you are sitting there right now trying to decide what should be on your congregation’s flag.  Here is something even more important for you to consider for the rest of the day:  what would God put on your own personal flag, the one flying right outside your home?
 
You have given a banner to them that fear you, That it may be displayed because of the truth. Psalms 60:4.
 
Dene Ward

If you grew up during the Cold War, you know about the Berlin Wall.  After World War II, the political ideologies between the USSR and most of the West became more and more at odds.  Finally, Communism overtook Eastern Europe and most of Asia.  Nikita Kruschev, the General Secretary of the Communist Party in the USSR, made it plain that their goal was to completely conquer the rest of the World.  We all grew up a little anxious.  During the Cuban Missile Crisis, which we explored in another post, we were a hair's breadth from World War III.  All of the school children in my Florida county wore dog tags, had a stash of canned goods with their names on it in the classrooms, and practiced diving under their desks whenever a plane flew over.  Many of our neighbors built bomb shelters in their backyards.
            One of the symbols of Communism and the terror it caused was the Berlin Wall.  After the war, Germany was divided into East (Communist) and West (free) sections.  And the capital city Berlin was divided into four zones, three controlled by western powers and 1 by the Communists.  After East Germany lost 1/6 of its population (4 million) to those who were escaping, the leaders decided to build the wall.  It went up in one night, August 12-13, 1961, first as strands of barbed wire.  As time went on, buildings were torn down to add two concrete walls, dog runs, bright lights, even mine fields, and "the order to shoot" was given to the guards.  The wall ran 155 km in length straight across the city center and around West Berlin.  At least 140 people died trying to cross the wall.  70 tunnels were dug, only 19 of which were successful, but over 300 people managed to escape that way.
            The Berlin Wall stood for almost 30 years.  Along came Mikhail Gorbachev, and a new policy called glastnost, a new openness in Soviet government.  A few people were no longer terrified to say a few things against the system.  Still, many were afraid to cause trouble.  Perhaps it was the leftover fear from the Cold War, but perhaps it was just the usual fear that leads to something called "diplomacy," which too often means compromise.  Finally an American president stood up to the system he dared to call an "Evil Empire."  In a speech in Berlin on June 12, 1987, Ronald Reagan said: 
"Behind me stands a wall that circles the free sectors of this city, part of a vast system of barriers that divides the entire continent of Europe…Standing before the Brandenburg Gate,every man is a German, separated from his fellow men.  Every man is a Berliner, forced to l ook upon a scar---As long as this gate is closed, as long as this scar of a wall is permitted to stand, it is not the German question alone that remains open, but the question of freedom for all mankind…
            "General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate.
            "Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate!
            "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
            The fall of the "Iron Curtain," as Communism had begun to be called, began 2 years later, and the wall was down by 1990.  Most historians say this speech helped to that end, even though many of his own advisors tried to stifle President Reagan, even on the very day he gave it.  To the East Germans it was liberation.
            Christians are aware of another Wall that has come down, a wall Jesus himself brought down.  Wherefore remember, that once you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called Circumcision, in the flesh, made by hands; that you were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off are made nigh in the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who made both one, and broke down the middle wall of partition, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, [even] the law of commandments [contained] in ordinances; that he might create in himself of the two one new man, [so] making peace Eph 2: 11-15.
            The wall between Jew and Gentile was a wall far larger than any other has ever been.  It began back in Genesis as God whittled down the population into the one group through whom the Messiah would be born.  Nation after nation was rejected and the Jews, rather than being the light to the Gentiles, did their best to alienate themselves from them, creating a hatred that lasted through the centuries.  Now Christ has torn down that hated wall and made freedom available to all--the greatest freedom we can imagine—freedom from sin and death.  I am one of the liberated, and perhaps you are too.
            People today may have forgotten the horror of the Berlin Wall, but the destruction of that other wall should never be forgotten, and no one, regardless his race, gender, or status in life should be denied the description "child of God."  Praise God for tearing down the Wall and making us all one new people.  Let no one separate us from each other again.
 
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for as many as were immersed into Christ put on Christ; there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither servant nor freeman, there is neither male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus; and if you [are] of Christ then you are seed of Abraham, and heirs according to promise Gal3:26-29.
 
Dene Ward
 

I was scanning a baseball trivia article called “The Odd Side of Baseball” by Gene Elston, and came across this:  The Louisville Cardinals once forfeited a game to Brooklyn because they didn’t supply enough baseballs for the game.  They didn’t have enough baseballs for the game?  What kind of game did they think it was, tag?
            They began the game with three balls, two of which were used practice balls borrowed from the Brooklyn Bridegrooms, so by the third inning the balls were all too worn out to use.  Since the home team was obligated to provide them, that was that.  Brooklyn got an easy win.
            I have watched baseball for a few years now.  Even a late bloomer like me knows that those umpires toss out balls with the least little scuff mark on them, not counting the home runs and ground rule doubles that you lose into the stands, not to mention the free souvenirs tossed by generous outfielders several times an inning.  Even I know you need more than three balls to play a full nine inning game.
            All of which got me to wondering what we fail to supply while claiming to be Christians.  The obvious one is showing up for class or a sermon without a Bible, but how many of us also try to get through life without opening one?  How many of us try to fulfill our obligation to know the Word with a scanty chapter a day?  How many of us think we can keep a viable relationship with our Creator on three one minute graces a day before meals?  Sounds like starting a baseball game with three balls, two of which are in poor condition to begin with.
            But let’s think for a minute about the supplies God furnishes and see if that doesn’t give us a few more clues.  We are supposed to emulate our Father, after all.
            A little searching turned up eight passages describing God as “abundant in lovingkindness.”  Seven of those include the phrase, “slow to anger.”  How many of us are more prone to bring just three balls of patience and forbearance to others, instead of an abundant enough supply to play through the whole game—and actually have leftovers?  Are we afraid some of that patience may go to waste or just too chintzy to share? 
            Psalm 132:15 tells us that God will “abundantly bless” his people.  Other passages talk about the abundance of rain and crops.  They speak of God’s people being satisfied, not with scanty amounts, but “with fatness.”  How would people describe what we give back to God, not just in the collection plate, but in our time, in our effort, in our generosity to others, and in the way we make decisions every day?  Is God always on our minds, or simply when the cultural norms of the day dictate?  Does our service to God always come first in any decision we make, even where we live, whom we marry, and where we spend our spare time?  Or are we stingy with that too?
            Isa 55:7 tells us God will “abundantly pardon.”  Not just enough so we can squeak by, but enough that we can live without fear of judgment, 1 John 4:17,18.  How do we pardon those who have wronged us?  How can we even speak in the same terms when the things we become so upset about are usually petty annoyances, nothing even close to the despicable deeds we have done to this merciful God, who continually supplies the balls, who never runs out no matter how many we scuff up, or hit over the wall, or toss out to a bystander as if it were nothing?
            What are you bringing to the ball game?  We can never supply our own pardon, but we can sacrifice anything and everything as often as necessary and stand ready to give up even more to a Savior who came “that we may have life, and have it abundantly,” John 10:10.
 
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, unto him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all generations for ever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21
 
Dene Ward

We live on a slope.  The grade is gradual, so gradual you don’t really see it until it rains one of those sub-tropical downpours for which Florida is famous.  When four inches comes down in less than an hour, the property becomes a river two or three inches deep flowing downhill to the run, just past the property line.
            After the rain stops, the draining continues, though it slows to three or four tributaries and eventually two larger “rivers.”  One runs through the front yard, between the bird feeders, down around the house, across the septic drain field and off the property.  Another slants southeast through the PVC pipe culvert Keith installed under the road nearly forty years ago, down the berm on the north, edge of the garden and on east. 
            Usually within a couple of hours most of the water has drained, but puddles still fill a few low areas, and you learn where and how to walk for the next day or two.  On sandy land, the puddles dry up quickly, unless it’s the second weekend in a row with a four inch toad strangler.
            We learned early on to avoid those low spots for several days.  We first met one of our neighbors when we asked him to pull our car out of the mud with his tractor at least three times in one week.  Two months ago, for the first time in many years, he had to come down and do it again.  I knew what had happened when, after two deluges in one week, I heard the truck engine roar and looked out the window to see the back tires spinning and mud flying ten feet behind them.
            When you are stuck in the mud, you can’t move.  The wheels may rotate but all you do is dig ruts and uproot grass.  The harder you press the accelerator, the deeper the ruts and the less you move.  Even rocking the truck back and forth becomes impossible.
            Sometimes we get stuck in the spiritual mud.  It comes first with complacency.  We are happy with what we know and where we are, so we sit down, clasp our hands, and contentedly lean back with our feet up on the desk.  Proverbs speaks of the results of being a complacent “sluggard.”  Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest; so shall your poverty come as a robber, and your want as an armed man, 24:33,34.  Tell me the same thing won’t happen when we stop working on our spirituality.
            It isn’t just a matter of continuing to learn, though that is important.  An older woman in one of my classes has expressed appreciation for the new things I teach her.  “At my age it’s hard to find something new,” she said, “but you have given me that and it’s wonderful.”  Yes, the older you are, the more difficult it should be to find something new to learn, so you certainly cannot sit back and fold your hands in slumber—you must work even harder to find those things and they will be even deeper than the “first principles,” and require yet more thought and labor.
            But it is also a matter of progress.  I see people who haven’t changed one whit in thirty years, who still fight the same spiritual battles, who still fail the same way again and again.  I see people who still gossip, who still judge unfairly, who are still oversensitive and too easily offended.  I see people who still have their priorities upside down instead of finally learning the higher value of the spiritual over the carnal.  I see people who have come no closer to mastering self-control than when they were young and foolish—they just become too weary to go at it in their old age and that is all that has moderated their passions.
            So today, check to see where you stand—or wallow.  Are you stuck in the mud of worldliness and pleasure?  Are you glued in the mire of wealth and possessions and financial security?  Are you floundering in the quagmire of man’s philosophy and false theology?  Pull yourself out and start moving again.  If you cannot do it alone, call a neighbor to help.  That’s why God put us all here together. 
            And when the storms come into your life again, use your head—stay away from the low spots.  Find the high ground of spirituality and keep on climbing. 
 
I waited patiently for Jehovah; And he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay; And he set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he has put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: Many shall see it, and fear, And shall trust in Jehovah. Psalms 40:1-3.
 
Dene Ward

"Again and again the message of the OT is that if you choose the wrong gods you will end in social decay. Biblical monotheism, far from an abstract creed, affirms that only when God is properly honored will society be just and compassionate. Modern western society, reaping the fruit of two centuries of systematically excluding the living God from all practical public relevance, is now plagued by the loss of family stability, respect for property, social compassion, sexual integrity, and the sanctity of life. Those who will not love God soon find it irksome (or uneconomical) to love their neighbors."
 (Christopher J.H. Wright on Deuteronomy 27.15–28)

Via Steve Wolfgang

Several years ago a young woman came to me for some advice.  She had been dating a young man whom she thought she really liked but something happened and she wondered if it was a red flag or if she was overreacting to a trivial thing that would not matter in their future relationship.  It seems that he was getting seriously interested as well and thought she should come meet his family.  On the way he received a text from his sister.  "Be careful.  Dad is home early and he is not happy."  She decided it was not fair to make a judgment on a secondhand piece of information, even though her young man had suddenly become quiet and a bit withdrawn.  When she arrived at his family's home, he was met at the door by his mother, who whispered into his ear before welcoming his girlfriend.  Everyone seemed subdued, talking quietly and stopping to peer over their shoulders every so often.  Finally, at dinner, all of them sat down together and the father was definitely not in a good mood, did not welcome her, and spent his time either eating in silence or questioning the mother about her activities for the day.  Interrogating, the young lady said, was a more accurate a word.
            What did I tell her?  That her instincts were probably correct.  If this is the way the young man learned headship, things would more than likely be difficult.  She did not want to give him up initially, but soon he came to her home to meet her family and was shocked at the lively conversation around the meal, the joking between both parents and between parents and children, and the general pleasantness and playfulness.  "Is your family always like this?" he asked.  I felt sorry for the young man at that, and so did she, but before many more weeks had passed, she was receiving phone calls from him wanting to know every detail of her day, including everything she ate and drank, and giving her instructions about what she should and should not eat!  At that point, it was over.  I breathed a sigh of relief.
            The manner of a father whose appearance at home caused fear in the entire family so that they are sending quick messages to "Be careful," reminded me of that old saying I have heard so many times.  "If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy."  I'm sorry, but that is nothing to brag about.  In fact, I would be ashamed to have someone say it about me.  To even think that my bad moods should effect the people I love is completely opposite of the admonitions to encourage, lift up, and make glad.  This is not the manner of ordained headship and it certainly isn't love.
            All the way back to the beginning, God has warned against bad moods.  He told Cain, Why are you wroth? and why is your countenance fallen? If you do well, shall it not be lifted up? and if you do not well, sin couches at the door: and unto you shall be its desire; but you rule over it.  Cain was in a very bad mood.  Why? Because God had not accepted his sacrifice.  God told him that being in a bad mood was one of the most dangerous things that could happen to him.  Do better, He said, and your mood will be better as well.  A bad mood puts you in a dangerous place, a place where sin will rule over you instead of your ruling over it.  Sure enough, Cain fell prey to Satan because of his bad mood, his "fallen countenance."  It led him to unjust anger and then to murder.
            When we allow our bad moods to not only fester within us, but also to cause fear and distress to others, we are sinning.  Period!  Proverbs warns us that we can tear our homes apart with our own hands (Prov 14:1).  Surely the same thing applies to one filled with the poison of a bad mood, and it usually shows itself in the words that come from such a person.  Hear, for I will speak excellent things; And the opening of my lips shall be right things. For my mouth shall utter truth; And wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; There is nothing crooked or perverse in them.  Does any of that sound like a Mama—or Daddy--in a bad mood?  God expects us to control our moods.  
            If Mama ain't happy (or Daddy), she had better get herself together and exercise some self-control just as God instructed Cain.  No one should be afraid to walk into my house any time of any day.
 
The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable; But the mouth of the wicked speaks perverseness,  Prov 10:32.
 
Dene Ward
 

This year we picked our first garden produce in early April.  Finding that first inch long green bean hiding among the thick spade-shaped foliage gives you a thrill, but seeing the first shiny green silks spewing out of the corn shucks and the tassels creeping out of the top positively makes your mouth water.  When it has been nearly a year since sinking your teeth into a row of crisp, juicy, buttered and salted kernels, the anticipation is intense.
            If you are not a gardener you might not truly appreciate the sacrifice of the firstfruits under the Old Law.  Every gardener knows that the first picking is the best.  As time passes, the corn and beans toughen.  The tomatoes and peppers become smaller and smaller and rot more quickly from the many blemishes.  The cucumbers turn yellow and overblown before they reach their full length.  Yet we have the frozen food section at the grocery store and a produce section that brings food from places where the firstfruits are just appearing.  Many of us have never seen anything but the firstfruits.
            I’ve often heard that certain frozen and canned vegetables, especially sweet peas and tomatoes, are more reliably good than the fresh.  They are picked at their peak and processed within hours.  We can have the best any time of the year, and we take it for granted.  The devout Israelite never had that opportunity.  It was ingrained in him from birth:  the best belongs to the Lord.
            All the best of the oil, and all the best of the vintage, and of the grain, the first-fruits of them which they give unto Jehovah...The first-ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring unto Jehovah… (Numbers 18:12-13)
            As a dedicated Hebrew watched his crops grow, his cattle bear, his vines hang lower and lower with the heaviness of ripening fruit, he knew that the best would not be for him, but an offering to the Lord.
            And this shall be the priests' due from the people, from them that offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep, that they shall give unto the priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw. The first-fruits of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, shall you give him. For Jehovah your God has chosen him out of all your tribes, to stand to minister in the name of Jehovah, him and his sons forever. Deuteronomy 18:3-5.
            The pious Israelite knew that the best of the fruits of his labor would be eaten not by his family, but by Jehovah’s priests, his representatives on earth. 
            The first of the first-fruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of Jehovah your God. Exodus 23:19.
            Not just the firstfruits, but the first of the firstfruits—the best of the best—was required in his service to God.
            Most of us have learned that our weekly contribution of money must be “purposed” (2 Cor 9:7).  But we haven’t learned to apply that axiom to every aspect of our lives.  Too often God gets nothing but our leftover time, our leftover energy, our leftover effort.  I’ve heard Christians talk about exercising when their bodies are at their peak, about avoiding certain times of the day for important work, about matching body rhythms to tasks.  Do we ever talk like that our about service to God?  Do we offer service that is well planned, organized for maximum efficiency, and timed for greatest effect?  Yes, we often talk about caring for our temples (bodies) so we can use them for God, but then we use all that energy for everything else instead and still God gets the leftovers.
            The principle of the firstfruits was so important the Hezekiah included it in his great restoration (2 Chron 31:5).  It was deemed so necessary to a true attitude of worship that Nehemiah charged the returning exiles to keep those ordinances in particular (Neh 10:35-39).
            We sing a hymn:  “Give of Your Best to the Master.”  That principle has not changed.  In fact, we are the firstfruits (James 1:18), brought forth by the word of truth.  As such, God expects us to give ourselves.  If we do, the rest will follow.  If it hasn’t, maybe we need to take a closer look at our “devotion.”
 
…but they first gave themselves to God…2 Cor 8:5.                                    
 
Dene Ward