THE TRUTH IS THE LIGHT
By: Reverend Dr. Charles R. Watkins, Jr., Columnist
Based on Biblical Text: Deuteronomy 26:10 (KJV)
“And now, behold, I have brought the first fruits of the land, which thou, O LORD, hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the LORD thy God, and worship before the LORD thy God:”
In order to be grateful for anything it is necessary that we place value on what we have received. When we are full we may not place the same value on a meal as we would starving. Full and satisfied the meal represents an enjoyable intermission, while starving the meal could very well represent a lifeline. In other words, the value we place on our blessings is determined by our presumed need. If we don’t need it, it isn’t worth much to us.
The question is what is our greatest need? The answer, of course, is varied according to our circumstance. The sick among us would call out for good health. The less fortunate among us may need a financial blessing. Those in the midst of domestic upheaval would cry for peace. Our greatest desire is always tied to what makes us feel happy and whole.
Our private confessions reveal a lot about us. Our private confessions reveal how we live from day to day. If, for example, we place a high value on the material possessions of this world, we could very well find ourselves with an unhealthy attachment to our possessions. We will reveal that we are worldly by our behavior and our speech.
What we confess is important, because what we value determines how we live. One can certainly make the argument that many among us do not place in any significant value on heaven and the prospect of eternal life. How else can we explain the great depths to which so many plunge into sin? It seems that we would pursue the prize of heaven and eternal life once we have determined it to have value.
Sunday after Sunday, and sometimes on Wednesdays we come together to worship God and to assess and reassess our priorities in light of God’s promises. It is during these worship experiences that we, in a real sense, come to give our value system an examination and reassess our needs. In our praise and worship we are reminded that life is not just fate. We understand that life is God’s orchestrated and deliberate response to our confession of faith. Our confession honestly reveals who we are, whose we are, and what we value.
God is concerned about what we confess to be of value. We see, in our text, that He established special annual services of confession for the Israelites. Twice a year they were instructed to approach God with hearts filled with gratitude, to make a strong confession of faith in Him. It was a chance to demonstrate to God that they valued Him above all else.
God expected His people to show gratitude for their salvation and blessings all year, but these specific times required a very special confession. The purpose of the confession was to declare the great salvation of God and the wonderful blessings of God. Immediately following the harvest each person was required to take some of the very first produce from their harvest, put it in a basket, and take it to the tabernacle as an offering.
Note that this was a strong confession of faith. Each person stood before the Lord to declare that they had now entered the Promised Land, the very land that the Lord Himself had sworn to give His people. Each person was to confess that they trusted God and rested in God.
We always say we trust God but when was the last time we rested in God? To rest in God requires an incredibly high level of trust. You cannot rest if you cannot trust! God’s purpose for this firstfruit celebration was to raise the Israelites’ awareness of their trust level and to remind them that they could rest in Him. It was to measure the level of their gratitude.
We need to measure the level of our gratitude to help us find what needs fixing up. God is not just asking that we be grateful enough that we send a fruit basket. We, like the worshippers in our text, are required not just to declare the great salvation of God before the priest and all the other worshippers. We are encouraged to name our blessings one by one. I submit that there is something quite therapeutic about naming our blessings. Naming the blessings God has bestowed upon us helps us to realize the magnitude of God’s generosity. Our forefathers and foremothers understood that in spite of their lack of formal education. I can hear them crying out, Thank you, Lord, for food on my table, for clothes on my back, a roof over my head and for shelter in a time of storm.
How grateful are we? We need to measure our level of gratitude and then take the time to name our blessings! We have so much to be grateful for! Thank you Lord for life, for health, for strength and for the opportunity to serve You. Thank you Lord for food and shelter. Thank you Lord for the roof over our head, the clothes on our back and the shoes on our feet. Thank you Lord for delivering us from the enslavement of sin. Thank you Lord for the wonderful gift of Salvation through Jesus the Christ. Thank you Lord for your promise of Eternal Life to all who confess Jesus as Lord and Savior.
The Reverend Dr. Charles R. Watkins, Jr., is the pastor James Chapel AME Church, Charleston, SC
