“A son honors his father, and a slave his master. If I am a father, where is the
honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the Lord Almighty.
“It is you priests who show contempt for my name. “But you ask, ‘How have we shown
contempt for your name?’ “By offering defiled food on my altar. “But you ask, ‘How
have we defiled you?’ “By saying that the Lord’s table is contemptible. When you offer
blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased
animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased
with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty.
(Malachi 1:6-8)
Why is giving to the Lord so important for believers?
There are two main reasons:
1. It shows that we are allowing Him to live in our hearts.
2. It is an act of obedience.
Warning:
Rather than thinking, “Here we go again, more talk about money”,
continue reading in order to understand that it is not about money
at all – it is much more important than that.
God was very specific regarding His requests for what the people should bring to His altar.
He did not want anything that people did not want, He wanted what they preferred to keep.
Why? Because when they gave what they wanted to keep,
it was a genuine sacrificial gift to Him.
God clearly explained that they should bring unblemished animals to be sacrificed.
However, they decided to offer Him less than what He requested.
They chose to keep the unblemished animals and give God the blemished ones.
In their minds, they probably justified to themselves
that they should keep the best and give God the second best.
They would keep the superior and give Him the inferior.
What was the primary cause of this kind of reasoning?
They had not allowed God to be in control of their hearts.
As a result, they were not only disobedient,
but they insulted God and failed to give Him first place in their lives.
How did God respond to their selfishness?
In Malachi 1:13-14, God says,
“…..“When you bring injured, lame or diseased animals and offer them as
sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?” says the Lord. “Cursed
is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it,
but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king,”
says the Lord Almighty, “and my name is to be feared among the nations.”
He told them that He was not going to accept their inappropriate and insufficient
sacrifices, because they were being selfish and disobedient.
In essence God was telling them that they may as well keep their inferior sacrifices
because they were of no value to Him and He would not accept them.
In Malachi 2:1-2 God continues,
“And now, you priests, this warning is for you. If you do not listen,
and if you do not resolve to honor my name,” says the Lord Almighty,
“I will send a curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes,
I have already cursed them, because you have not resolved to honor me.”
To paraphrase, God warns them that their acts of disobedience
will result in His withholding (cursed) their blessings.
If they expected God’s blessings,
then they were required to give Him exactly what He asked of them.
But no, they wanted to receive God’s blessings at a discounted rate,
as if they had some coupons that exempted them from paying the full cost of sacrificing.
By giving God less than He asked for, they exposed themselves as selfish, rebellious,
disobedient people, who had not invited God into their hearts and were being disrespectful
in a way that insulted Him, but still expected Him to bless them anyway.
Okay, so what does all this information about sacrificing animals have to do with us?
To answer this question, we have to identify
the sacrifice God requests of those who consider themselves as His children.
Not something that we have diluted down to fit our wants,
but God’s full request for sacrifice.
When you stop and think about it, we have many opportunities
to show our faith to others by our words, attitudes, and actions.
But how do we prove our faith in God, to God?
Out of the sight of others, how can we prove to God that our faith in Him is genuine?
There are at least three ways we can communicate our faith to the Lord.
1. Communicate to Him regularly through prayer.
2. Be obedient to the things He requires and expects of us.
3. Bring our sacrificial tithes to Him
(in the same manner that others brought sacrificial animals to Him).
Look at what He says in Malachi 3:10,
Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my
house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not
throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that
there will not be room enough to store it.
Does God need our money?
Of course not! He can acquire any resources He desires.
So why does He ask for our tithes?
It gives us an opportunity to prove our faith is real,
and it opens up the opportunity for us to receive His blessings.
There are a few things we see in Malachi 3:10:
1. Bring the ‘whole’ tithe. In others words, don’t bring Me anything that is less than
what I have requested. When our offering is less than the tithe He requests, we are
giving Him ‘blemished’ offerings. We are showing the same selfishness and disobedience
as those who brought blemished animal sacrifices. When we give Him less than He desires
of us, should we expect Him to gratefully accept our offerings? Not according to what
He told those who brought Him blemished animals. If we refuse to give Him what He asks
of us, then why bring any offering at all?
2. He says to bring the tithe into the storehouse. Where is His storehouse in our world?
It would have to be the church house, right? God wants us to bring our tithes to Him
in His house. Yet some do not go to His house on a regular basis. Other things have
replaced their desire to spend time with Him. Some may have even decided that if they
do not attend church, then they will not have a requirement to tithe. But that’s not
how it works. We don’t avoid church so we don’t have to tithe; we tithe as He requests
and our obedience leads us to His house.
3. When we obey God we can expect His blessings. We may or may not receive financial
blessings, but there are many other ways we can be blessed. We can be blessed with
a good job, a good home, good health, love from others, peace of mind, good attitudes,
etc. God says that we could be overwhelmed when He ‘throws open the floodgates of heaven
and pours out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it’. We should
not expect His blessings if we have chosen to disobey His command to give Him the full
tithe expected of those who love Him. When we give Him less because we have decided to
keep what we want, then we can expect our blessings to be withheld (cursed).
How obedient are you in regards to God’s commands?
Do you give Him all He requests, or do you selfishly keep a portion for yourself?
Are you going to His house regularly to worship Him
and give Him the tithes He has commanded from those who love Him?
Does it seem that others are receiving more blessings than the one you are receiving?
If so, it could be that they have decided
to be obedient to the Lord in areas where you are not.
Spend some time personalizing what the Lord expects of those who love Him.
Assume that you asked someone to do something specific,
and if they did, you would give them an unexpected gift or reward.
If that person did what you requested,
you would be excited to give them their reward, right?
But what if they refused to do what you asked, or only part of what your requested?
They did not do what was required for receiving a reward,
so you would withhold it, right?
Not only that, but you could assume that
they did not have enough respect for you to do what you asked.
Do you sincerely want to have fellowship and a close relationship with the Lord?
Do you expect His blessings regardless of your disobedience and lack of respect?
Pray,
“Heavenly Father, I thank You for giving me opportunities to show the
genuineness of my faith. Forgive me for the areas of my life where
selfishness still exists. Soften my heart so that I will become more
obedient to You. I want to enjoy the many blessings You have for me.
I realize that I cannot expect Your blessings as long as I remain
disobedient of Your commands and disrespect You as my Heavenly Father.
You and I know the areas of my life that I have not given to You. I need
You to help me rearrange my priorities so that I will be more obedient
and pleasing to You. You have given me so much already and I cannot imagine
the blessings that You have for me when I choose to obey You. You are my
Heavenly Father and I want to learn to enjoy spending more time with You.
BREAD FOR BELIEVERS 
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