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In more than three decades of my Christian life, I have been blest by 2 types of Daily devos'
(matter not exceeding 500 words) in universal Christian literature. Not only those Devos'
which have a different theme everyday but also the ones which revolve around a certain
theme over a period of time, say a fortnight, have richly edified me. In fact, both
styles have their own inherent advantages. If the former style caters to the varying
spiritual needs of a christian from day-to-day, the latter aims 'to ground'
a child of God in a certain subject in order he derives the full benefits of the
deep insightful study of a certain topic, spread over a fixed span of time.
In my Daily devo page, I have consciously tried to go in for 'a blend of both the
styles' whereby within a constant theme, I would be aiming to focus on different
facets of it which admittedly is a closer imitation of the 'Constant theme' style
than the 'Varying topics' one.
Having dwelt on the topic of Christian journey in the previous month, now in the month
of Febraury, I intend to focus on a monumental piece of Jewish history….the
Conquest of Canaan, with its particular relevance to modern day breed of
Christian spiritual warriors.
Once again, let me wish you a happy and an edifying read…
Suresh Manoharan
February 20th
The First fruits
"Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God…”
Exodus 23:19
“Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the
silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the LORD's house.” –
Joshua 6:24
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If the Conquest of Canaan can symbolically be compared to a reaping of “rich harvest” promised to
Abraham and his descendents, then more specifically the “Conquest of Jericho” and subsequent
“consecration of its war spoils” could be compared to offering of “first fruits” to God.
In the Law given to Moses, the “first fruits”-as the first of the above captioned scripture
portion bears out- were to be irrevocably given to the Giver of a bountiful harvest.
In the same manner, without partaking in any of the war loot of the first military victory,
all of it was to be surrendered to His glory by Joshua and majority of his men who were careful
in following this Divine dictum. Of course, there was a black sheep amongst them, which we shall
come to later.
In our own Christian lives, out of the manifold blessings God may give to us by way of a
lucrative career or a successful business, are we generously setting apart some sum for His work?
Prayer:
Father, we know that you prize a cheerful giver. May our hearts respond generously to your
blessings and let our contributions for your work, always increase. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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