Firstfruits

My dad’s mother, Granny Whitely, loved gardening.  She had seeds that she saved year after year.  She had a special variety of bush beans that she kept in a pint jar in the freezer to simulate a good cold winter.  Then she planted them in the spring and kept a jarful over the winter.  But she pampered her tomatoes.  Granny would prepare a box of soil in her trailer and plant the tiny tomato seeds in March.  She would select the best plants thinning out the weaker ones.  By the end of April, they were ready to transplant into the garden.  She always teased Mr. Miller at church that she would have the first red tomato.  And she usually did.  There was something special about that first tomato.  Hey, Exodus and Leviticus commanded the Israelites to bring in the “first fruits” as a special offering to the Lord.  But more importantly, Jesus Christ is called the “first fruits” in His resurrection from the dead.  You see, because Jesus raised from the dead, we have the promise of the resurrection too.  Jesus was the First One, and we as His followers are guaranteed to follow.  Someday, after we die, Jesus will come again from heaven to resurrect our bodies and take us home with Him to heaven.  Paul said in I Corinthians 15:23, “But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.”  We are promised to live again because of Jesus’ resurrection.  His life is the proof that we shall live again.  Hey, do you belong to Jesus?  Will you live again?  Just like Granny Whitely prepared her garden, you must prepare for eternity.  Will you be ready when Jesus comes back?  I hope so.