ODJ: serving God leftovers
September 12, 2010
When you give blind animals as sacrifices, isn’t that wrong? And isn’t it wrong to offer animals that are crippled and diseased? Try giving gifts like that to your governor, and see how pleased he is! (v.8).
READ: Malachi 1:6-14
A few years ago, radio commentator Paul Harvey shared a true story about a woman and her frozen turkey. The Butterball Turkey Company set up a telephone hotline to answer consumer questions about preparing holiday turkeys. One woman called to inquire about cooking a turkey that had been in her freezer for 23 years. The representative told her the turkey would be safe to eat, but did not recommend eating it because the flavor would have deteriorated. The caller replied, “That’s what I thought. Okay, we’ll probably just give it to our church then.”
That woman was guilty of serving leftovers to her church. The priests and people of Malachi’s day were also guilty of serving leftovers to a holy God. Questioning God’s love for them (1:2-5), the priests and the people became negligent in their worship. God sent Malachi to scold them for “serving” Him careless worship (vv.6-7). The people were offering defective animals for sacrifice, and the priests, who were responsible for inspecting the animals and offering up unblemished sacrifices to God (Leviticus 22:17-25), were accepting them. The Lord said it was insulting that they were bringing Him—the Great King of the universe—sacrifices that weren’t even fit for one of their human authorities (Malachi 1:8).
Are we offering God less than our best? Here are three standards of sacrifices to test our worship and service to God: (1) Are we giving to God first? (2) Are we giving God our best? (3) Are we offering God a sacrifice that costs us something? Let’s apply those questions to these areas of our life: our bodies (Romans 12:1-2), our money (Philippians 4:14-18), our praise (Hebrews 13:15), our good works (v.16), and our witnessing to unbelievers. Let’s give our best, not simply the leftovers. —Marvin Williams
In what area of your life do you think lightly of God by offering Him leftovers? When are you tempted to offer God less than your best? How can you consistently offer Him your best?
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I enjoyed this blog, very good thoughts. Thank you for sharing.