When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance and have taken possession of it and live in it, you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from your land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket, and you shall go to the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there.

Deuteronomy 26:1-3 (ESV)

What has the Lord your God given to you? Before you say, “nothing”, take a moment to think.

If you’re reading this, you’re alive. Not only are you alive, but you are educated. You are in a place where there is technology. Where there is technology, there is usually some semblance of prosperity. That’s just a start. Do you have a job? Do you have a family? Food on the table? Health? Wealth?

If God is the Great Provider, we can safely assume that all we have is from Him. He’s given you a lot. What have you given back to Him?

Have you taken what you have – not just what you have, but the first of what you have – and offered it back to God? Do you even give Him credit for what you have?

God gave a lot of instructions to the Israelites as they prepared to enter into the Promised Land. A lot of it was for their own good for day-to-day life. But some of it, was so that they were reminded of who they were and where they came from.

God urged Israel to make an offering of the first fruits of the land (the land they not only prospered from, but actually had to work – it didn’t all come for free) and, in giving the offering, would make God’s name dwell in the land. Not only did the nation Israel occupy the Promised Land, but God’s name did, too.

When you stamp your name on something, it belongs to you. It let’s everyone know who it belongs to. Have you stamped your name on all you have? Or have you stamped God’s name so that everyone will know who it really belongs to?

Daily Bible reading: Deuteronomy 26-27, Mark 15:1-26