For many in Shenandoah County, next week is crunch week. Young people who are planning to show their livestock at the Fair are making their final preparations, gardeners are selecting their best produce and flowers, and homemakers are baking their best recipes.
County fairs are special times in our valley and provide a showcase for the best of each year’s efforts. It’s always inspiring to visit the cattle barns and exhibit buildings to see what our friends and neighbors have on display.
These cows, cakes, chrysanthemums, and cucumbers are not just for show, however. The individuals who entered them are competing for blue ribbons and prize money. Along with these tangible rewards come the bragging rights for the next twelve months in each of the given categories.
Because of all that’s on the line, most people who enter fair exhibits of any kind select and submit their very best. Gardeners would never think of entering half grown beans, moldy corn, or rotten tomatoes. Those who grow flowers carefully examine all in their patches to choose the very best specimens available.
Likewise, although FFA and 4-H members must enter the only animals they have, they work diligently to clip, wash, and exhibit their goats, hogs, sheep, chickens, rabbits, or cattle to make the best impression on the discriminating judges. Those who have never entered items in a fair have no idea of the work and preparation put forth by those who do.
All of this careful selection and preparation of the best we have to display in a county fair reminds me of how the Jewish families selected their lambs for sacrifice to God. The Law of Moses specifically forbade the use of crippled or impaired animals and only the best were to be offered. The concept involved was that Almighty God, Creator and Sustainer of all, deserved the finest they had to give.
Because Jesus died as our perfect sacrificial Lamb, we no longer need to slaughter livestock to cover our sin, praise God. Nevertheless, God still deserves our best. As we consider what we will present to Him in worship each week, we ought to give it at least as much careful thought and reflection as goes into a fair entry.
This idea motivated generations of worshippers to wear their very best clothing to church. Even today, in extremely poor countries such as Haiti and Sierra Leonne, believers dig out their Sunday best, iron and starch it, and don it with great respect for the One they seek to honor.
Although we can worship God in cutoffs and t-shirts, or whatever else we have, the concept of offering to God our very best should not be lost. What would we wear to an important job interview? What would we give to our favorite entertainers or athletes if we could meet them? These questions should inform what we offer to our God and how we appear before Him.
A good friend of mine often remarks how many only give God their used tea bags. They don’t want to throw out used items they have no need of, so they donate them to a church or other ministry thinking they have done something magnanimous.
While many items can be repurposed and while churches and ministries are grateful for whatever gifts are shared, this often reflects our willingness to only give God our leftovers thinking we have done Him a great service. God has given us as the very best He had, His only Son. Shouldn’t our return gifts reflect our very best for Him as well?
The clothes we wear, the offerings we bring, the thoughts we share all reflect what’s in our hearts. As we visit county fairs and view all the exhibits, may they remind us to give the very best that we have to the One who has given His very best to us.
Fair Blessings, George