“‘A son honors his father, and a servant his master. Then if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is My respect?’ says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests who despise My name. But you say, ‘How have we despised Your name?’ You are presenting defiled food upon My altar. But you say, ‘How have we defiled You?’ In that you say, ‘The table of the LORD is to be despised.’ …’” (Mal 1:6-7, 11, 14).
All the excitement of departing from exile to rebuild the Promised Land and its temple had long since faded. The priests, Levites, and people of Jerusalem had settled into a religious routine. Although they were bringing the weakest and sickest animals from their flocks to sacrifice in the temple, surely God would understand. Life, after all, was tough, and making a living was not easy.
In this chapter, Malachi describes religious activity that has lost its vision of the grandeur of God’s great name and therefore lacks the fear of the LORD. God may be important, but definitely not our top priority. We give Him what is left of our time and resources, but save the best for ourselves.
Because He is our heavenly Father, the Lord of lords, the name above all names, and the great King who will be feared among the nations, He deserves the very best of us.
Malachi seeks to shake God’s people from their complacency by means of metaphors and analogies. A son would never treat his father with such contempt, nor a slave his master (v. 6). And no one would ever dare to present a crosseyed and defective sheep as a gift to their governor (v. 8).
By giving God our scraps of time and resources, from His perspective, we are acting like swindlers (v. 14). Why? Because we are withholding from God what belongs to Him and what He truly deserves. Because He is our heavenly Father, the Lord of lords, the name above all names, and the great King who will be feared among the nations, He deserves the very best of us.
So perhaps the first step away from our empty religiosity is not merely to ask what portion of our lives belongs to Him, but to remember that He deserves all of us. “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship” (Rom 12:1).
