JMD Devotional 208 Malachi 1 Needful Heresy
Vs 10 Oh, that there were even one among you [whose duty it is to minister to Me] who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on My altar to no purpose [an empty, futile, fruitless pretense]! I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, nor will I accept an offering from your hand.
What an unusual plea from the heart of God, for some priest of integrity to basically nail the doors of the sanctuary shut and halt the religious activity! What would provoke this emotion from the Almighty?
Vs 6-9 A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a Father, where is My honor? And if I am a Master, where is the [reverent] fear due Me? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise My name. You say, How and in what way have we despised Your name?
By offering polluted food upon My altar. And you ask, How have we polluted it and profaned You? By thinking that the table of the Lord is contemptible and may be despised. When you [priests] offer blind [animals] for sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and the sick, is it not evil? Present such a thing [a blind or lame or sick animal] now to your governor [in payment of your taxes, and see what will happen]. Will he be pleased with you? Or will he receive you graciously? says the Lord of hosts. Now then, I [Malachi] beg [you priests], entreat God [earnestly] that He will be gracious to us. With such a gift from your hand [as a defective animal for sacrifice], will He accept it or show favor to any of you? says the Lord of hosts.
Any form of worship can degenerate into meaningless religious motions when the heart of the worshiper looses their passion for God. The departure turns privilege into duty and service into drudgery. Perhaps it would be more pleasing to God for us to sometimes disrupt our routine program of services and honestly examine ourselves for such a departure? It is bound to be unpleasant; it will not be entertaining; any disruption will certainly expose how man-centered our worship really is: people will vehemently complain!
Vs 11-14 For from the rising of the sun to its setting My name shall be great among the nations, and in every place incense shall be offered to My name, and indeed a pure offering; for My name shall be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts. But you [priests] profane it when [by your actions] you say, The table of the Lord is polluted, and the fruit of it, its food, is contemptible and may be despised. You say also, Behold, what a drudgery and weariness this is! And you have sniffed at it, says the Lord of hosts. And you have brought that which was taken by violence, or the lame or the sick; this you bring as an offering! Shall I accept this from your hand? says the Lord. But cursed is the [cheating] deceiver who has a male in his flock and vows to offer it, yet sacrifices to the [sovereign] Lord a blemished or diseased thing! For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and My name is terrible and to be [reverently] feared among the nations.
We do not bring animal sacrifices under our dispensation; but we are to bring our tithes and gifts and praise with sincere and grateful hearts and sanctified hands. When we come together there should be genuine sorrow over our sins, humility toward our elders, and reverent fear and worship of God. In Christian history, God has had to periodically raise up a ‘heretic’ or persecution to stir up and challenge a complacent Church slipping into apostasy. May we wake ourselves up before He must take such measures with our generation!
Dear God,
Every man is right in his own sight, and I am no exception: temper my thoughts and judgment. Is the Church what You want it to be? What can godly men do to bring Her in line with Your will? Help us not to be like the parable of the man with a plank in his eye pointing out the splinter in another’s eye; but do help us to be a people of integrity and sincerity who please Your heart. May You not have to sigh and wish for someone to nail our church doors shut due to empty worship.
Amen
All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by
the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
*New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)
If you know of someone who would like to subscribe to
my daily devotional, please forward.
jamesdinsmore_32907@yahoo.com
Short, concise, thought-provoking.
More features:
http://SaintJamesPoetry.blogspot.com
http://recoverydevotional.blogspot.com/
http://jamesezadventures.blogspot.com/
What an unusual plea from the heart of God, for some priest of integrity to basically nail the doors of the sanctuary shut and halt the religious activity! What would provoke this emotion from the Almighty?
Vs 6-9 A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a Father, where is My honor? And if I am a Master, where is the [reverent] fear due Me? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise My name. You say, How and in what way have we despised Your name?
By offering polluted food upon My altar. And you ask, How have we polluted it and profaned You? By thinking that the table of the Lord is contemptible and may be despised. When you [priests] offer blind [animals] for sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and the sick, is it not evil? Present such a thing [a blind or lame or sick animal] now to your governor [in payment of your taxes, and see what will happen]. Will he be pleased with you? Or will he receive you graciously? says the Lord of hosts. Now then, I [Malachi] beg [you priests], entreat God [earnestly] that He will be gracious to us. With such a gift from your hand [as a defective animal for sacrifice], will He accept it or show favor to any of you? says the Lord of hosts.
Any form of worship can degenerate into meaningless religious motions when the heart of the worshiper looses their passion for God. The departure turns privilege into duty and service into drudgery. Perhaps it would be more pleasing to God for us to sometimes disrupt our routine program of services and honestly examine ourselves for such a departure? It is bound to be unpleasant; it will not be entertaining; any disruption will certainly expose how man-centered our worship really is: people will vehemently complain!
Vs 11-14 For from the rising of the sun to its setting My name shall be great among the nations, and in every place incense shall be offered to My name, and indeed a pure offering; for My name shall be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts. But you [priests] profane it when [by your actions] you say, The table of the Lord is polluted, and the fruit of it, its food, is contemptible and may be despised. You say also, Behold, what a drudgery and weariness this is! And you have sniffed at it, says the Lord of hosts. And you have brought that which was taken by violence, or the lame or the sick; this you bring as an offering! Shall I accept this from your hand? says the Lord. But cursed is the [cheating] deceiver who has a male in his flock and vows to offer it, yet sacrifices to the [sovereign] Lord a blemished or diseased thing! For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and My name is terrible and to be [reverently] feared among the nations.
We do not bring animal sacrifices under our dispensation; but we are to bring our tithes and gifts and praise with sincere and grateful hearts and sanctified hands. When we come together there should be genuine sorrow over our sins, humility toward our elders, and reverent fear and worship of God. In Christian history, God has had to periodically raise up a ‘heretic’ or persecution to stir up and challenge a complacent Church slipping into apostasy. May we wake ourselves up before He must take such measures with our generation!
Dear God,
Every man is right in his own sight, and I am no exception: temper my thoughts and judgment. Is the Church what You want it to be? What can godly men do to bring Her in line with Your will? Help us not to be like the parable of the man with a plank in his eye pointing out the splinter in another’s eye; but do help us to be a people of integrity and sincerity who please Your heart. May You not have to sigh and wish for someone to nail our church doors shut due to empty worship.
Amen
All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by
the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
*New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)
If you know of someone who would like to subscribe to
my daily devotional, please forward.
jamesdinsmore_32907@yahoo.com
Short, concise, thought-provoking.
More features:
http://SaintJamesPoetry.blogspot.com
http://recoverydevotional.blogspot.com/
http://jamesezadventures.blogspot.com/
Labels: addiction, Christian, devotional, faithfulness, integrity, purity, recovery
posted by James M. Dinsmore at 9:08 AM
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