Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest.” – Leviticus 23:10

Today’s Scripture Reading (July 21, 2012): Leviticus 23

We have somehow come to the conclusion that we do not value losing. But the truth is that we learn much more through losing then we do from winning. Losing is not only not bad, it is a necessary element of our own growth. But the motto of our culture is that everyone is a winner. I ran across a child recently that had a gold medal around his neck. I congratulated him on proficiency, but his reaction was more about boredom. “It was the worst medal you could get – and everyone got one. We are all gold medal winners, but in this competition if you wanted to really achieve something, you needed to win a Double Gold Medal – or better yet, a Platinum Medal.”

The marvel of the situation with this athlete was not that he felt valued because of his Gold Medal, but rather that the gold had lost its lustre. It just was not important anymore. His reaction to his medal was proof that the medal itself was unimportant. In competition, what matters is the value we place on the medal that we have won. In ancient Greece, the competitors competed for a simple wreath of leaves – but because of the value they placed on the wreath they would have competed as hard for it as if it was made of gold – or platinum.

   

There is an old adage that if everything is important, than nothing is important. I think the adage works for our modern view of competition. If everyone is a winner, then in reality no one is winner. And that is the danger that our culture seems to be running into. Yes, we are creating a society that is without losers – but the reality is that what we are really creating is a culture where there are no winners.

When God instructs Moses about the offerings, his instructions are that it should be the first fruits of the harvest that are given to God. It is not just a part of the harvest, and it is especially not just the left overs of what we have – it is the first. First seems to mean something.

In regards to the offering, first means that we have made a commitment to God long before the harvest became a reality. And it is really that commitment that God is looking for – one that can only e symbolized by the first – and a first that has not been watered down by making everything the first.

   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Leviticus 24