- 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
Daily DEVO 