Chapter 1
When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the Lord of hosts. Malachi 1:8 – Now I highly doubt any of you have been caught bringing in a blind goat to worship for a sacrifice, at least I hope you haven’t! So how can this relate to us? Just remember that when it comes to what we give to God He demands and deserves our absolute best. Often we “bless” Him with our leftovers. Leftover time, leftover energy, leftover finances. That is if we have anything after we’ve done all our other stuff in life, then God can receive something from us. God though says to put Him first and give Him your best. Look at you life and what you recently have given God. Was it your best or a leftover? Let’s together see how we can make sure that the best is what we give. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 577
But you say, ‘What a weariness this is,’ and you snort at it, says the Lord of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the Lord. Malachi 1:13 – God’s people are being asked to evaluate their offerings to God. They have been careless in their giving to Him, offering lame and sick animals instead of their best like God had called them too. These are offerings they would never present an honored guest or to their leaders, but they are perfectly content giving them to God. When checked on this, we get our passage. I picture a teenager rolling their eyes and throwing their hands up. Yet, as weary of a message as this may be, can we evaluate our offerings? Are we truly giving our best? Yes, I do want you to consider your financial giving for sure in this, but hopefully your offerings to God goes further than that. As a pastor I see this everywhere in our church. Is the worship we offer something worthy of the Lord or are we settling with good enough for us? Is the way we serve worthy of the Lord or are will willing to serve our coaches and bosses more faithfully than we serve God? God deserves our best. Yes, giving our best won’t be easy and will mean not giving our best elsewhere. God though is worthy of this. Let’s seek to give Him an offering that’s worthy of our holy God. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2124
Chapter 2
Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? Malachi 2:10 – To understand this we must know what this covenant is that they are profaning (breaking, setting aside). God told them to not marry outside their nation, to avoid mixing with the nations that served other gods. Yet, what we see in this chapter is the thing they were told not to do, they did. While that command isn’t for us today, God does direct and even command us to do things yet how often do we refuse to do the very thing our God told us to do? Forgive them. Give to that. Share the Gospel with them. Simple straightforward commands for God that we many times set aside when given. Let’s change our heart today. When given the opportunity today to follow God’s direction whatever it may be, purposely follow it. Let God see today that you’re more than just a follower of His by name but also with action. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 578
And this second thing you do. You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Malachi 2:13-14 – The Lord is speaking to a portion of His people who is crying and complaining to God because God isn’t giving blessing to them anymore, even when they offer sacrifices to Him. God responds and says it’s because they have been treating their spouses with contempt. They’ve been divorcing the wives they married when they were following after God to most likely marry wives of foreign nations. We learn here that when our lives are in disobedience to the Lord, blessing does not come like we want it to or how God desires it to. When we choose sin over God, parts of the effects of that choice is a lack of godly blessings in our story. Things like peace, joy, strength…things that are directly from God…don’t flow into our story like we need them to because we’ve chosen to close our hearts to God and open them to sin. And what’s even more saddening is the innocent wives of these men being hurt by their sinfulness. Sin closes off godly blessings from coming in like they could be and it wounds the people in our life. How then have you been saying yes to sin? I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2125
Chapter 3
Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him. Malachi 3:18 – It can be frustrating to follow God with your whole heart and see someone who isn’t at all following God living an easier life than you. Know Jesus never spoke about the easiness of living for Him; actually He spoke about the opposite. Know though while in this world it may seem like your life of following God isn’t moving you forward or changing things at times, God really does see your faithfulness. As this passage shows when that day comes, let’s make sure that God knows and sees us as one who is righteous and serves Him. Don’t let lack of faith of others or the apathy of many Christians around you hinder you from living for God in the best way you can. God sees you and that’s all that matters. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 579
Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord. But you say, “How have we spoken against you?” You have said, “It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts?” Malachi 3:13-14 – The people God was speaking to had a dangerous belief settling into their lives. That’s it’s pointless to serve the Lord. What value was it for them to serve the Lord, to offer like God wanted them to offer, and for them to change how God wanted them to change? Maybe that’s a thought you have had as well. We know we should, but what really is the point? What’s in it for us is we serve and offer and change like God is calling us to in scripture? What’s in it for us is the same answer as to what was in it for them if they did all this…life in communion with God. While it’s Jesus who opened the door to us having a life with God, our obedience to what God says opens the door to intimacy with God. We serve, we offer, and we change our ways so we can draw closer to the One who has all joy, peace, and love. Yes, following God like this is not easy, but it’s also not pointless. Everything you need in life comes from God who desires to pour out such things on those who pursue Him. In God and within a deeper walk with God is all you will ever need. So serve, offer, and change your ways knowing it’s to draw you closer to the One who is everything you need. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2126
Chapter 4
But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. Malachi 4:2 – More promises from God to those who follow Him. Malachi is a book that opens our eyes to the ways we can rob God and the outcomes that follow such actions. It also shows how we can serve Him faithfully and receive all that we need because of our obedience. While you may have made the choice to follow God in the past, make it again today. Reconfirm it in your heart and your walk with God that He is what you are after in life and He has your life. Then tomorrow do the same. Make sure each day you are choosing to intentionally follow God because if we aren’t pursing Him with our day, we are wasting our day. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 580
For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. Malachi 4:1 – Evil will someday be no more. While that truth seems so far from the reality we exist in today, we must take note that God has already begun this work. Something wonderful has happened between when Malachi wrote these words and us reading them today. Jesus came. For Malachi and the people of his day they had just the hope a Messiah would someday come. We now have their hope as our reality. Jesus has come and already conquered death and the enemy. One day when He returns He will then destroy our enemy once and for all. This is the hope we can bank on today. Yes, evil is still present and our enemy is still finding victories, but Jesus has won and has promised a day is coming when all this evil will be no more. So take heart in the trials knowing God is with you, the future is set, and one day we’ll be able to exist in a place with no evil. Until that day though, know I’m praying for your victory over the enemies attacks today. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2127
Daily DEVO 