This morning I encountered one of the great lessons I have learned in life. It comes just weeks before my seventy-fifth birthday. Given the lesson, my age makes it all the more poignant. I have been studying the prayers in the Old Testament and this morning I came to Deuteronomy 26. It is a bit complicated, but let me see if I can simplify it for you, to make the lesson apparent.
The Lord delivered Israel from Egyptian bondage and brought them, after forty years of wandering to kill off the old disbelievers and unfaithful, to the Promised Land. Now he instructed Israel that on the day after the festival of the Passover a sheaf of the “first-fruits” of the harvest should be offered to God as a thanksgiving offering on behalf of the people generally. (See Lev. 23:10-ff.) In the early verses of Deuteronomy 26 the Lord instructs individuals to gather a basket of the first-fruits at the end of the harvest season as a thank offering. They are to bring it to the designated spot, probably the tabernacle or later the temple. Certain prayers of thanksgiving are to be offered. Tithing is to be paid on the harvest and additional prayers to be offered. The question arises, “Why does the Lord want us to give him the first-fruits?”
As I read some commentary on this chapter the point was made that the first-fruit offering was intended to be the best. It was young, tender, tasty, and nourishing. It was the best of the harvest and the best was for God. We have heard this often–that the best is for God. And there are good reasons that the first-fruits are given as a thanksgiving offering. First, it acknowledges that God is the giver of all the good things which support and sustain life. Second, we are to learn to give the best to God, even of those very things which we have anticipated and looked forward to all season. We glorify God and serve him first. This requires discipline and self-denial. These are wonderful and powerful ideas when it comes to worshiping God and thanking him for his blessings.
But there is a third lesson–and this is the lesson that was new and powerful to me. It comes from a commentary by a man named Matthew Henry. He was a believer–a real believer, and he had an extraordinary sensitivity to the Gospel and its teachings. I have learned to love him and his writings. They always instruct and edify me. And significantly, they are always attended by a special tender and sweet spirit, something I have found to be unusual in many commentaries. Here is what he said:
To give God the first and best we have .... Those that consecrate the days of their youth, and the prime of their time, to the service and honour of God, bring him their first-fruits, and with such offerings he is well pleased.(1)
Note please the application this has for the young–teenagers, young adults, young marrieds. To “consecrate the days of their youth”–the first-fruits–to God. And to consecrate the” prime of their time”--the first-fruits of time to God. Such actions by the young are noble and righteous acts of gratitude, consecration and worship. They acknowledge that all they have, including youth, energy, gifts and talents, come from God and they are only returning to him what is rightfully his.(1 Chron. 29:14; Ps. 24:1; D&C 104:17) The truth of this idea struck me as both self-evident and powerful. Unlike ninety-three-year-old Russell M. Nelson, as a seventy-five year old man my contributions are minimal. Recently I was released from serving as a sealer in the Logan Temple. Health issues were one of the main reasons. From such a perspective I have a greater sense of the necessity of consecrating one’s youth to God, his church and kingdom.
It would be a great blessing for the young of the Church to have this perspective. In late evening talks with the missionaries of my office staff in the California Roseville Mission we often discussed the “wasted youth” syndrome. Young men often spent great amounts of time practicing sports–I used to tell of boys in the parking lot of our church behind our house practicing skate boarding moves hours on end. Contrast that with the amount of time any of them spent preparing for a mission by reading and memorizing scripture. The comparison is stark and scary. Today similar problems arise with young men and some young women who are addicted to their personal devices and waste huge amounts of time surfing, socializing, and playing games on the Net.
I have also noticed in most wards I have lived in the past fifty years that the older High Priests do the family history and attend the temple. Many young couples argue that they are “too busy” to do those things–that will have to come later. So, when we have “ward temple days” the younger set are often conspicuously absent. But they can get to the basketball and football games, the latest movies, put prodigious amounts of time into careers, and make time for regular vacations. Remember the “Rich young ruler”? He had lots of money and authority and wanted to know what “good thing” he needed to do to be saved? (Mt. 19:16) His question was nearly perfect–except there is not just one thing one can do. The Lord took him seriously, in fact Mark says that Jesus “beholding him loved him.” (Mk. 10:21) The young man was told to sell all that he had, give it to the poor and follow Jesus. He had the opportunity to give the first-fruits–the best he had in resources, leadership, influence, time, energy, dedication, thought, and commitment, but he went away sorrowing because “he had great possessions.” Because of other priorities he squandered the opportunity to give the first-fruits.
Think about the energy, enthusiasm, strength, and quick minds of the young. No wonder the Lord want’s the first-fruits. Many have given them. Jesus is the prime and divine example. The most important life and act in the cosmos was completed by age thirty-three! Joseph Smith finished his mission at age thirty-eight. Remember young David, Samuel, and Mormon. All givers of the first-fruits par excellence. Alma taught his son Helaman to “learn wisdom in thy youth.”(Al. 37:35.) What greater wisdom can one learn than to give God the best and do it when you are young, healthy, energetic, and all your brain cells hitting on all six? What greater wisdom than to give God the first-fruits?
I urge the youth–most of my grand children fit here–high school and college age kids, young adults, returned missionaries and young marrieds (especially those from the CRM), to get a testimony that the Lord wants your “first-fruits” offering and then redouble your commitment to see that he gets it.
Let’s think together again, soon.
Notes:
1. Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, new modern edition in six volumes, (n. p.: Hendrickson’s Publishers, Inc., 1991), 1:647, emphasis added.
