Give of your best to the Master
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Malachi 1:6-14
On May 4, 2000, a computer virus known as the “Love Bug” infected millions of computers with an enticing email subject line - “I love you.” If the recipient opened it, it wormed its way to all the contacts on the recipient’s list.
Ted Canova, a news director in Minneapolis said, “I stepped away from my desk for 30 minutes and when I came back, there were 177 people who were in love with me.” Was it really love? Was it true honor? No, it was a scam.
The first thing that God says to Israel in Malachi is “I have loved you.” His love is a perfect, complete, patient, sacrificial love, greater than we can comprehend. In the New Testament, Jesus says in John 14:15, “If YOU love ME, keep my commandments.” This is a theme throughout the Bible and should be the way that we express our love back to the Lord.
In verses 6-14 God gives Malachi a message for the priesthood of Israel, “Where is my honor, where is my respect, you despise my name because you present defiled food upon my altar.”
The priests were offering blind, lame, stolen and sick animals, which was considered a defilement of the Lord’s Table.
Their sarcastic answer....”How have we done this?” Have you ever confronted a child with chocolate all over his face right before dinner and he gives you that innocent wide-eyed look and says “What?” as if he has no idea what he has done? I imagine this same kind of feigning of innocence from the priests of Israel.
God tells them that if they offered these sickly, stolen animals to their government leaders they would be rejected, and shouldn’t their respect for the Lord be even higher. They knew the commandments regarding sacrifice from Leviticus and were responsible to carry out those instructions and even teach them, yet they totally disregarded them. They were keeping the best for themselves and allowing the people to do the same. It wasn’t love, it was disobedience. They were trying to scam God.
II Samuel 24:18-25 tells of a time when King David sinned against God, and the prophet Gad told him to offer a sacrifice on the threshing floor that belonged to Araunah. When Araunah found out why David had come to his threshing floor, in respect for David as King, he offered him the threshing floor, an ox for the sacrifice and even the wood for the altar free of charge. David refused this generous gift and told Araunah, “I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord that cost me nothing.” What a different attitude from the priests in Malachi.
In Romans 12:1, Paul urges believers to “present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable sacrifice.” We no longer have to offer an animal as a sacrifice for our sins. Jesus was the perfect, unblemished lamb of God who offered Himself for us once and for all. Our “reasonable” response should be to offer ourselves as a living and holy sacrifice.
How do we present our bodies to God? The scripture tells us to live lives of purity and obedience, and to love God with all our hearts, minds, and strength. The word “strength” in this verse means “muchness.” It describes loving God with the best of all you have....your gifts, talents, money, possessions, words, actions, and thoughts. It means to live in obedience to God’s word and not to live according to your own wants.
An old song goes like this: “Give of your best to the Master, give Him first place in your heart. Give Him first place in your service, consecrate every part...”
Jacob Stam, International President of the Gideons, was once overheard praying, “Oh, Lord, the only thing most of us know about sacrifice is how to spell it!” Our culture is very much concerned with personal pleasure and comfort, but as Christians we are to live a different way.
Remember the widow’s mite. Your offering doesn’t have to be big, it should just be the best that you have.
Jo