"'A son honors his father, and a servant his
master. Then if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where
is My respect?' says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests who despise My name.
But you say, 'How have we despised Your name?' "You are presenting defiled
food upon My altar. But you say, 'How have we defiled You?' In that you say,
'The table of the LORD is to be despised.'
"But when you present the blind for sacrifice, is it not
evil? And when you present the lame and sick, is it not evil? Why not offer it
to your governor? Would he be pleased with you? Or would he receive you
kindly?" says the LORD of hosts.
"But now will you not entreat God's favor, that He may be
gracious to us? With such an offering on your part, will He receive any of you
kindly?" says the LORD of hosts.
"Oh that there were one among you who would shut the gates,
that you might not uselessly kindle fire on My altar! I am not pleased
with you," says the LORD of hosts, "nor will I accept an offering
from you.
Insights: One last thought this week. We read a passage like this one and our minds
immediately go to Sunday morning worship services at church. The reality is offerings were presented to
God daily at the temple. This mindset
changes the focus of worship even more.
We now have to evaluate our daily walk with the Lord God. Beloved, how often during the day do you
think of our Lord? The things you do,
the decisions you make throughout the day ought to reflect a spirit of worship
to God. My fear, however, is we rarely
think about our love relationship with the Father outside of “formal” worship
settings. To be even blunter, I am not
certain how much we think about God during
our “formal” worship services. Even
though the verses we have studied this week were written 400 years before
Jesus, I think they could have been written by a contemporary to us in
2012. We are a people who desperately
want this world and all it has to offer and at the same time want God to bless
and favor us. James is clear when he
wrote, “friendship with the world is hatred toward God (4:4).” Until we come to the place we recognize our
desperateness for God, then our worship, more than likely, is going to be
defiled. Beloved, repent and seek pure
worship with our loving Lord. Worship
Him in truth and spirit. Show your love
in your obedience!
Questions:
- What kind of offering are you presenting to God on Monday,
Wednesday or Friday?
- Do you even think about your worship and offering
outside of the context of Sunday morning church?
Prayer: Father, may You
be pleased with the offering I bring to You today. Amen.
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