28 April 2005 Devotion for Today “Loss of Excellence” Malachi 1:6-9
David Livingstone was one of the greatest missionaries who ever lived. He moved to Africa, married his wife Mary in Africa in 1845, and never stopped pursuing
excellence for the Kingdom of God during his lifetime.There was a time when Dr. Livingstone was approached about the possibility of a missionary society sending some more men to help him in his efforts to reach the people of Africa. They wrote him a letter that read, “Have you found a good road to where you are? If so, we want to know how to send other men to join you.” Livingstone wrote back, “If you have men who will come only if they know there is a good road, I don’t want them. I want men who will come if there is no road at all.”
Excellence. It is a virtue which has become a casualty of the shallowness of our age. In Malachi, the prophet decries the mediocrity and shallowness which accompanies the worship of God. He was addressing ancient Israel, but he could well have been speaking to modern-day America. While much of the culture and history are different there is an insidious commonality: Human nature and the tendency to forget about God when we are preoccupied with our own materialism. The people of Israel had endured a long period of captivity and cultural displacement under the Babylonians. God had indeed punished Israel, but had restored the ones who wished to return to the land and rebuild what they had once lost. With God’s help, these new “pioneers” under Nehemiah and Ezra helped to rebuild much of what had been destroyed. Within a generation or two the land prospered once again. Malachi, however, began to see darkness in the underpinning of this new and flowering culture: a contempt for the God who enabled them to prosper in the first place. Perhaps the people did not mean it as contempt, but their neglect was interpreted the same way. This is what the prophet says in Malachi chapter one:
6 "A son honors his father, And a servant his master. If then I am the Father, Where is My honor? And if I am a Master, Where is My reverence? Says the Lord of hosts To you priests who despise My name. Yet you say, In what way have we despised Your name? 7 "You offer defiled food on My altar, But say, In what way have we defiled You? By saying, The table of the Lord is contemptible. 8 And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, Is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, Is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably?"
Says the Lord of hosts. 9 "But now entreat God's favor, That He may be gracious to us.”
Basically Malachi declared that the people only had time to give God the “leftovers.” Leftovers may be good once in a while when mealtime needs to be “thrown together” because of hectic schedules, but you wouldn’t want to eat it every day. And you certainly wouldn’t entertain your guests with leftovers. But Malachi charges the people that this is what they do.
Why should we give God our best? Because He reserved the best for us by sending His one and only Son to die for our sins and to give us eternal life. That is reason enough, but there is more and I will be sharing this in days to come. In the meantime, do your best to serve God and give your best to Him.
Have a blessed day!
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