When you have entered the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it, take some of the firstfruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land the Lord your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name and say to the priest in office at the time, “I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come to the land the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us.” The priest shall take the basket from your hands and set it down in front of the altar of the Lord your God. Then you shall declare before the Lord your God: “My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous. But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, subjecting us to harsh labor. Then we cried out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression. So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders. He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, Lord, have given me.” Place the basket before the Lord your God and bow down before him. Then you and the Levites and the foreigners residing among you shall rejoice in all the good things the Lord your God has given to you and your household.
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
During 2026, Peachtree Church is inviting everyone into Cultivate, a churchwide discipleship plan centered on the fruit of the Spirit and the kind of life God longs to grow in us. Throughout the year, we’ll explore how love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control take shape in everyday life through the Spirit’s work. Cultivate brings together worship, Scripture, group guides, and meaningful practices designed to meet you where you are and support growth in ways that fit your season. These twice-weekly devotionals are one way to stay connected, offering reflection and grounding for daily life with God. Whether you engage in many ways or just one, you’re invited to be part of this shared journey of becoming more rooted in who God has created and called you to be.
Devotional
After graduating from seminary, I spent a number of years working in the non-profit arena, mostly in development. During that time, I learned many of the ins and outs of the differences between fundraising and development, which, at its heart, is the contrast between a transactional model of financial support and a relational model. My efforts focused on shifting donors away from giving out of mere obligation. Instead, I helped them connect passionately with our mission, fostering deep relationships with the organization that transformed their financial support into a meaningful partnership. While this passage from Deuteronomy shows the broad view of the giving of the firstfruits of the harvest to the Lord, it is important for us to note that this sacrifice is not offered out of necessity, for God does not need our gifts. Instead, this sacrifice is given in response to the love that God shows to his people. The declaration that the passage calls us to offer to God in verses five through ten points towards the relationship that God has with the Israelite people. The Lord heard the cries of the enslaved Israelites and brought them to the land that he had promised the patriarchs, and it was through that act of escape that he showed them the love, the support, and the care that they needed.
This sacrifice, as all of those listed within the law, did not exist to curry favor with God. Sacrifice was not a transaction with God; rather, it was a manner in which the Israelites were called to respond to the grace that he gave them, just as we are called to respond to his grace in our own lives. When we think about our giving—whether to the church or any other organization—through the lens of relationship rather than the benefits we expect to receive, it changes our understanding of not only why we give, but to whom we give. The firstfruits that God asks us to give in our modern life are not a fundraising opportunity to the church, but a loving response to the Lord’s desire that we would grow ever closer to him.
For Reflection
- Why do you give to different organizations?
- What moments in your life have most influenced your thought processes around giving?
Prayer
Lord God, you call us to be close to you. You desire that we would experience the grace that you have showered upon us so richly, and you do not ask for us to respond to that grace out of obligation but out of the desire to grow closer to you. Shape our hearts and our minds that we might ever more clearly know your love and respond to it. In Jesus’ name, we pray; amen.
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Devotionals