Chazal tell us that the world was created for the mitzvah of Bikkurim. This is an astonishing Midrash.
We know that a person comes into this world with a mission to serve Hashem in the circumstances that he is given, and through that he earns the ability to enjoy the delights of the World to Come for all eternity. How can Chazal say the world was created for the mitzvah of Bikkurim? Perhaps the answer is that Bikkurim teaches us how Hashem wants us to fulfill our mission.
Imagine someone hiring a worker who comes to work every day with a sour face. He does whatever he has to do, but he can't wait to leave. The employer doesn't want to ask him to do anything because he feels like he's burdening him. And what about a worker who comes enthusiastically, but all he cares about is himself and how much he can get out of the company? He's also not the ideal worker. The best worker is someone who loves the company and loves the boss. He comes in excited, wanting to contribute and wanting to do more.
That's how Hashem wants us to serve Him. He wants us to be excited to do the mitzvot. But how do we reach a level where we truly feel excited to serve Hashem, rather than feeling that His mitzvot are a burden? One of the greatest motivations is recognizing how much Hashem has already done for us. When someone gives and keeps giving, we naturally want to reciprocate. If we understood how much Hashem gives us every second of the day, we would be running to serve Him. The problem is that we don't fully recognize what we have been given and what we continue to be given.
The Chovot HaLevavot gives a mashal to explain. Imagine, lo aleinu, parents pass away leaving behind two children, a baby and a sixteen-year-old. A nice family takes both children into their home, supports them, pays for everything they need and eventually marries them off. Which child should have more hakarat hatov? Obviously, the baby. That child was supported for nearly twenty years, while the other child was supported for only a few.
But most likely, it is the sixteen-year-old who will feel much more gratitude. She understood what was happening when she entered that home. She knew what it meant to have nowhere to go and then to have a family open their home to her. The baby, however, grew up receiving everything from the beginning. By the time she was old enough to understand, everything already felt natural.
The same is true of us in this world. We came into the world receiving from the first moment of our lives. Hashem has been giving and giving—our health, our eyesight, our ability to think, to eat, to walk and to enjoy everything in this world. We have been given these gifts for so long that they feel natural to us. And in the natural way of the world, unfortunately, these gifts often aren't appreciated until, lo aleinu, one of them is taken away.
But Bikkurim comes to correct that. It teaches us to appreciate while we have. The landowner who works so hard in his field, plowing and planting, finally sees beautiful fruits growing. It would be so easy for him to say, "Look what I did." But the Torah tells him to take those fruits, bring them to the Bet HaMikdash and declare, "They came from the land, Hashem, that You gave me. These are the fruits that You gave me. Everything I have, You gave me."
And that recognition changes the way we serve Hashem.
Someone once did me a favor that saved me over three hours of time. Later, he said to me, "I know you're busy, but my children could use some chizuk. Could you please give them fifteen minutes?" My immediate thought was, Of course. You just saved me more than three hours. How could I not give you fifteen minutes?
That's the way we're supposed to look at avodat Hashem. Hashem gives us twenty-four hours of life every single day. Then He asks us to use some of that time to pray and learn. How could we feel that we're giving up our time? How could a person say, "I'm so busy with my business or with my family"? Doesn't he know that his entire business was given to him by Hashem? His family was given to him by Hashem. And the same Hashem wants him to dedicate some of his time to learning and praying.
Hashem gives a person every dollar he has and then asks him to give some of it to tzedakah. When we understand that, we don't feel the burden of giving tzedakah. We feel that we're being given an opportunity to express some of our hakarat hatov.
Perhaps this is why Chazal say the world was created for Bikkurim. Bikkurim teaches us the attitude we're supposed to have in serving Hashem our entire lives: recognizing that everything we have is a gift from Him and then serving Him with that hakarat hatov.
As Rosh Hashanah approaches, this is so important to keep in mind. We are living in a world in which Hashem is constantly giving to us. Everything we do for Him is just a drop in the bucket compared to everything He does for us. When we truly recognize that, serving Hashem takes on a different feeling.
We can wake up in the morning excited to pray, excited to learn, excited to give and excited to improve. Every extra effort becomes another opportunity to say, "Hashem, I know how much You give me. I want to show You how much hakarat hatov I have."