“Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.” — Proverbs 3:9-10
“The proof is in the pudding.”
“Where the rubber meets the road.”
“A litmus test.”
“You’ve come to a fork in the road.”
“This is the moment of truth. “
There are so many idioms for describing an extremely important point for something or someone. This is that point in life that proves where you stand, that tests your ability, or that marks out your future course. How you handle your finances falls into this category. Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” (Matthew 6:24).
Firstfruits and Letting Go
When you give your wealth to the Lord, you give weight to your faith in Him. The idea of honor has to do with putting weight on something. You show the gravity of respect when you honor someone. When you honor God with your wealth, it reveals how much gravitational pull your trust in God has on your heart. If you give up what represents earthly security, then you demonstrate trust in his power to take care of you.
You are to not only honor the Lord with your wealth, but with your firstfruits. Therefore, before you do anything else with your money and possessions, you give some of it back to him. You do not give him the leftovers: you give him the first and the best.
It’s amazing how following this firstfruits principle cuts the chord of greed in your heart. Greed and self-sufficiency are always lurking in the shadows. Everything in your flesh wants to feel secure and satisfied with the things of this world. So, each time you give the first and the best away, you hack back the encroaching thorns of the cares of this world that desire to choke the life out of you (Matthew 13:7; Matthew 13:22). You must do this over and over again. You must do this every time you reap another harvest, which is every time you receive another payroll direct deposit in your bank account.
Letting Go Means Trusting God
Letting go of your firstfruits is an act of faith. Giving away your first and your best to the Lord through tithes, offerings, and generosity to the poor is trusting him to provide for you. Everything belongs to God, and he can and will take care of you because he cares for you (Matthew 6:25-34).
This is what verse 10 communicates. You will be well cared for by the Lord if you honor him with your wealth. God is not a minimalist, he is a maximalist. If you look at the universe, at the beauty of creation, at the intricacies of the human body, at the abundance of provision on this earth, you can only come to the conclusion that God loves to give more than is needed.
His grace in salvation is unending. He didn’t just forgive you, he also makes you his child, a co-heir with his Son! His grace is sufficient, and he will supply every need according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus, which is a never-ending treasure chest (Philippians 4:19). Live by faith in Christ, and you can know that he will meet your needs. You will likely never be rich in this life, but you, like a young child, will live in the sweetness of having all that you need from the hand of your loving father. Then, in the life to come, you will have more than all the riches of this world could ever provide.
Try it. Give God the first and best of your finances (Malachi 3:10-11). He will meet your needs, and you will be free from the power of money and anxiety. What a good Father we have!
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