This past week, I was thinking a lot about a conversation I had with a friend a couple of years ago. We were sitting around talking about religion, and he said, "I just don't understand how such a good God would create humans for the sole purpose to worship Him. That doesn't seem like a very good God to me." At the time, I was unable to say anything. Thankfully, I've learned a few things since then!
First of all, God created us out of love. That's it! He created us without expecting to get anything in return - He gave us free will, free to turn away from Him or love Him. True love is a love that gives freely without expectation. When we realize how great and wonderful this love is, love so great that God would send His only son to die for our sins, what else can we do but fall to our knees and worship our Creator? When someone loves you, loving them back is a natural response. When a gift is given, a natural response is to give thanks and a gift in return. Worshipping God is only natural, not something that is mandated.
In Theology class, my professor brought to my attention a passage that really highlights this response of thanksgiving to God:
"When you have entered the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it, take some of the firstfruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land the LORD you God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the LORD you God will choose as a dwelling for his Name and say to the priest in office at the time, "I declare today to the LORD you God that I have come to the land the LORD swore to our forefathers to give us." The priest shall take the basket from your hands and set it down in front of the altar of the LORD you God. Then you shall declare before the LORD your God: "My father was a wandering Amamean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous. But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, putting us to hard labor. Then we cried out to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression. So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with miraculous signs and wonders. He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, O LORD, have given me." Place the basket before the LORD your God and bow down before him. And you and the Levites and the aliens among you shall rejoice in all the good things the LORD your God has given to you and your household."
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Pretty awesome! The Israelites are so thankful and so overcome with their love for God that they offer to Him the firstfruits of the crop - the first and best part of their crop. Through this image, we are able to understand why Jesus is often referred to as the firstfruits. Paul says in 1 Corinthians: "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfuits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him." (15:20-23) Jesus is the firstfruits - the best of the crop and the first to be picked. And just like the rest of the crop would have been picked at a later time, we too will be raised from the dead, just as Jesus was.
Although Thanksgiving has come and gone, let's continue to give thanks to God for creating us out of love - so much love that He would give His son for us. We love God because He first loved us :)
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