<\/p>\n
Malachi 1:8-14\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>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.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>And now entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us. With such a gift from your hand, will he show favor to any of you? says the LORD of hosts.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the LORD of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts.<\/strong>\u00a0But you profane it when you say that the Lord’s table is polluted, and its fruit, that is, its food may be despised.\u00a0<\/strong>But you say, \u2018What a weariness this is,\u2019 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.<\/strong>\u00a0Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great King, says the LORD of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
There was no question as to what God required in sacrificial animals. They had to be without spot or blemish. He expected His people to offer the choicest animals from their herds or flocks. God wants the best.<\/p>\n
But what were the Israelites doing? They were offering blind, lame and sick animals. The choice animals would bring a high price in the market, or would be desirable for breeding. So the people offered the culls, saying in effect, “Anything is good enough for the Lord.”<\/p>\n
Before we look down on the Israelites with shock and scorn, we should ponder whether we twentieth century Christians might also be dishonoring God by failing to give Him the best.<\/p>\n
We spend our lives building a fortune, trying to make a name for ourselves, living in a status home in suburbia, enjoying the finer things, then give God the fag end of a burned-out life. Our finest talents go to business and the professions, and the Lord gets our spare evenings or weekends.<\/p>\n
We raise our children for the world, encouraging them to make a lot of money, marry well, and own a prestigious home with all the modern conveniences. We never hold the work of the Lord before them as a desirable way in which they should spend their lives. The mission field is all right for other people’s children, but not for ours.<\/p>\n
We spend our money on expensive cars, recreational vehicles, sailing boats, and high class sports equipment, then give a paltry dollar or two to the work of the Lord. We wear expensive clothes, then get a feeling of euphoria when we donate our cast-offs to the Salvation Army.<\/p>\n
What we are saying, in effect, is that anything is good enough for the Lord, but that we want the best for ourselves. And the Lord is saying to us, “Go, and offer it to the President. See if he would be pleased with it.” The President would be insulted. Well, so is the Lord. Why should we treat Him in a way we would not think of treating the President?<\/p>\n
God wants the best. He deserves the best. Let us determine with all sincerity that He will have our best. (Tozer)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Malachi 1:8-14\u00a0\u00a0When 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.\u00a0And now entreat the favor of God, that he may be … Continue reading “69.b. Malachi 1:8-14\u00a0“<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-199901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-prayers"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199901"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199901\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":199904,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199901\/revisions\/199904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}