Passage: Malachi 1
So you may seriously want to use a bookmark if you’re like me and take forever trying to separate the last few pages of the old testament to find the book of Malachi!!!
I wondered what we’d be in for this summer in regards to this blog and what our Pastor would be speaking about and here it is…MALACHI.
Honestly when I heard about it I was like, um what’s in Malachi? Which scared me and intrigued me all a the same time. Since I don’t know much about Malachi I can’t wait to see what God reveals. But it may also mean keeping a few of my bible scholar friends on speed dial this summer 🙂
The verse that spoke to me this week was LOUD AND CLEAR!
14 “Cursed is the cheat who promises to give a fine ram from his flock but then sacrifices a defective one to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “and my name is feared among the nations!
Lately I have been wondering what I value and where my heart is. I’ve entered a new season of my life as my daughter will be attending school more regularly in the fall. This has led me to make some deliberate choices to realign my values and my time. So now that I have made these changes the challenge is going to be not to fill up the ’empty’ spaces with ‘stuff’. I have some clear ideas as to what God wants me to do so I must stick to the plan and His will. I can’t allow myself to get shifted around by my forever creative and overactive brian! I can’t allow myself to lose sight of my goals. Sometimes I actually hate being creative. It’s really hard to focus on one thing and just turn off all my ‘other’ ideas. But it takes discipline and I am determined that with God’s help I can do it! I certainly will remember this verse when I am thinking about going off course. I don’t want to cheat my Lord or give Him a defective sacrifice because I suddenly got a ‘great idea’ and lose track of my values and where my heart is.
10 “How I wish one of you would shut the Temple doors so that these worthless sacrifices could not be offered! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “and I will not accept your offerings.
I don’t think any of us want to think we’re offering God ‘worthless sacrifices’ but the reality of this is that sometimes we do. The question to myself this week is how am I going to ensure that what I am bringing to God is not useless simply because it’s not my best. In order for me to give Him my best staying focussed and not allow myself to get distracted by doing too much is a good start. Always keeping in mind what my values are will also help.
What do you do to ensure that what you are offering to God is not useless? How can we further challenge ourselves in this area on a daily basis?
He gave his BEST for us to die on the cross so we ought to give Him the honor and respect of giving Him our best and not whatever left over energy we have at the end of the day.
in the clay,
Chantal Dube