Giving God Your Best
Writer Author Sylvia Huffnagle
Christian Article
:
Bible Teaching
- Fiction No
Mal:1:1-5: The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi. 2: I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, 3: And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. 4: Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever. 5: And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The LORD will be magnified from the border of Israel.
(God says here that He is not blessing His people as He had promised to do. Why?)
6-10: A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the LORD of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name? 7: Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD is contemptible. 8: And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the LORD of hosts. 9: And now, I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us: this hath been by your means: will he regard your persons? saith the LORD of hosts. 10: Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought? neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you, saith the LORD of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand.
(God says He wants His people to treat Him with great awe, respect, and reverence. What is reverence? It is the act of carefully obeying your God and Father’s instructions. Yes, Christians should be very conscientious about obeying God’s instruction book i.e. the Bible. BECAUSE, that’s what a Christian is--one who has repented of their ways and chosen God’s ways. A Christian is one who has covenanted with almighty God to be His obedient child and to receive Him as their true Father. A Christian is one who has asked Jesus, the Son of God, into their heart to be their Lord and Savior.
The second good reason to reverence God, though none is needed, is because the Bible records not only God instructions, but all the history that explains and justifies the need to honor and obey Him.
Listen to God’s indictment against His people through Malachi. He demands His people’s allegiance and He demands that He be held in the highest esteem and honored. I’m changing the words, God’s people to the church here because this message is for us--check out 2Tim:3:16. He says that if the church is not enthusiastic about this conscientious worship, as far as He is concerned, you can shut the doors. Yeah, that’s right! Forget it!
Never mind what you have been told is God’s attitude toward your church, this is the real deal. If your church is guilty of the above, this message is for you. God wishes you would close the place and go home.
How did today’s church get so far off from this thinking? It happened because a new understanding of what God was about when He sent Jesus evolved and because of a shameful neglect of the Old Testament.)
11-14: For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the LORD of hosts. 12: But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the LORD is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible. 13: Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the LORD of hosts; and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the LORD. 14: But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the LORD a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the LORD of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen.
(Take note that we are God’s witness. What do the lost think when they see the church’s lack of regard for God’s Word? What do they think when they see the meager sacrifices God’s people try to appease Him with? Instead of taking up their cross daily and following Jesus, Christians fast their chocolate or some such thing for six weeks of lent and call it being holy. We have profaned God’s table. We have not offered God our best and we are paying a high price for it.
You may say, in what way are we paying a high price? All those things that God says in the New and Old Testament that He wanted to do for us are not all but disappeared because God is doing a different thing. It is all but gone because we have not honored Him. Reread the above scriptures--it is the reason we Christians are so unimpressive to the world and even each other.
If you are still not convinced, read the rest of Malachi. It is both bad news and good news. The good news is that Jesus is still our High Priest and advocate--we can repent and start anew this very day. More good news is that by doing what He instructs in this Book of Malachi, we will end up fully equipped for the ministry. We will end up covered in God’s full armor. We will end up being the true body of Christ and we will end up being very impressive and empowered.
The bad news is that at this time we are not equipped or powerful or impressive and if we don’t repent, we will lose it all. Remember, Jesus is coming for a spotless church.)
Sylvia Huffnagle
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