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A Theology of Firsts

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I’ve been pondering the idea of tithing. Now I know that as soon as I say the word tithing, many, if not most of you will think about money. You can think about scriptures that talk about giving God the “first of your fruits.” Now this is all good. Personally, before anything else is spent, I have found that there is no greater spiritual rhythm for me than my tithe being given on the first of the month, no opportunity to reflect about whether I should do it or not, it just is.

Yet as I have reflected on this, I have begun to think about this in the broadest sense possible, something I am calling “A theology of firsts.” What would it actually look like if I tithed the first of everything.

Let’s think about this.

The first moments of my day – a tithe of worship and reflecting on who God is and what He may want to reveal to me for the day ahead.

The first conversation of the day with my spouse and/or my kids – to make it not about me but about them. To speak words of encouragement, to build them up.

The first thing I do when I get to work – to offer the first 30 minutes to God and what he is doing in those that I have responsibility for. 

The first 20-30 minutes when I return home from work – offered as a tithe to my family, to hear about their day and enjoy the beauty that can come from family.

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Romans 12:1 MSG

The first part of my vacation, offered as a tithe. The first day of each month. The first month of the year. The first minutes arriving at a party – seeking to serve others and not to be served. 

I’m still pondering this and thinking about how I could live this out. We must always remind ourselves that a relationship with God is not a set of rules but a way of living. It’s easy to live by a rule of financial tithing, giving your “first fruits”, but what if it means so much more than that. What if it was much more encompassing, more beautiful.

You may recall Jesus words: 

“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment.  Matthew 5:21-22

Could we look at a Theology of Firsts in a similar way.

“You have heard that it was said: tithe of your first fruits. But I tell you, give the first of everything, and every situation and circumstance. For in this way you honour your Father in heaven.”

What would it look like if we adopted a Theology of Firsts? How would our relationships and communities be changed?

For the Kingdom.

Life-Giving Lists

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Full disclosure – although I’ve been personally living out the idea of a life-giving list for years, I’ve never had a specific term for it. So I want to give full credit to Steve Cuss, a pastor in Broomfield, Colorado for giving me this term.

So, do you have a life-giving list?

Let me set this up. For those of us who lean more to the “type-A” driven mentality, who love to drive initiatives forward, who think big thoughts and jump into delivering on them without first giving too much thought to how much time and energy they will actually take, who see opportunity in every problem and want to help solve it, and on and on – you get the picture – we have, on more than one occasion, come close to, or have actually, burned out. The degree of burnout may have been significant and required drastic measures, or it simply may have been for a few weeks and we needed to sit on a boat in the middle of lake for a few days to simply breathe (been there, done that), yet we swore that we wouldn’t allow this to happen again – can I hear an “Amen!”

What if part of the issue is simply matter of having and employing a life-giving list to allow us to continue to live the life that we believe we are called to live. Now, before I get into the specifics I want to validate my fellow life sojourners who know that their capacity to deliver is broader than many. Who feel a sense of calling for putting themselves out there and owning big projects and other deliverables on behalf of the team. This is in no way a pride thing, in fact, it can at times be a bit of a curse. Yet you feel the weight of responsibility and you know that it is a type of calling on your life, you just can’t not enter into it.

However, you at times (or perhaps consistently) don’t remember that every day has 24 hours for everyone, even you. That there are limits on what you can accomplish, that all of life does not depend on you, that you have only been given a slice of it even though much of it excites you and you want to take more on. And yet you also know that you don’t want to go back to the feeling of burnout either.

You need to embrace your personal life-giving list.

So what is it? It is simply a list of those activities that are life-giving to you. They may be small they may be big. They may cost you nothing, they may be expensive. Some will take you 5 minutes, others will be 2 weeks in length. But they are what you need to enter into to provide you with the energy and clarity that you need to live life well and to be present in all circumstances.

So what does this look like for me.

Simple ones: a walk around the storm-water pond by our house – it takes 20 minutes; 20 push ups; a beer at 4:30 in the afternoon (just one); writing a card to someone to encourage them and mailing it; calling certain people simply to see how their day is.

Longer ones: 40 km bike ride; conversation at a restaurant with nachos and a good friend; working at a coffee shop for a few hours; slow excursion on a pontoon boat to just think; building personal projects at a friend’s woodshop; getting our car repaired and chatting with my mechanic friend during the repair.

Less frequent ones: two weeks at a friend’s cottage; travel to be with friends in Lithuania and doing ministry together.

You can see how unique these are to me, yet even writing these out I can feel the energy coming on.

So what would you put on your list? How could simply inserting these into your daily, weekly and yearly rhythm ensure that you thrive in the context you believe you have been placed in. Simple, yet profound. Embrace your very own life-giving list today.