Give Birth

He chose to give us birth through the Word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created. ~ James 1:18

Giving our firstfruits is a term often used in the church as meaning to give God first of our money, time and other resources even above ourselves and our family.  Original readers of James, the Jewish believers, were well aware of this term as they celebrated The Feast of Firstfruits as an offering of gratitude to God.  The truth is we should be grateful ourselves that God gave us a new life and birth when we became followers of Christ.  Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:  While we were still sinners, Christ died for us”.  This means that by his own will and goodness Christ died for us to give us a new life in Him.  Not only are we Christ’s crowning creation, but “firstfruits” suggests we have a special standing above the rest of creation.  We are firstfruits of salvation and firstfruits of new creations in Christ.  God gave us new life in Christ.  God chose, out of his own will, to bring us up out of our sinful lives by sacrificing his firstfruit, his son, Jesus.  The bible makes it clear that we were set apart and chosen by the Lord, born again and adopted into the family of Christ.  He did this.  He sought us out and by his will we were brought into relationship with him through the invitation of His sacrifice.  God has chosen to give us new life not through our own works, but through the truth found in his word so that we may be the dedicated and special part of God’s creation to fulfill His purposes.  From the beginning, God chose mankind to be His splendor and wanted us to find our purpose in Him.  Our spiritual rebirth is an act of God’s grace so that we may live in the fullness of life for him and with Him.  It is through faith in Jesus alone that we receive this  new birth.  We accept the good news of the cross and He gives us His righteousness as the firstfruits of creation.  You can not earn this, in fact, you do nothing at all but accept the invitation for a new life.  A life of hope, love, and grace and one where you will always have someone by your side. ~ Amen