“But you dishonor my name with your actions. By bringing contemptible food, you are saying it’s all right to defile the Lord’s table. You say, ‘It’s too hard to serve the Lord,’ and you turn up your noses at my commands,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “Think of it! Animals that are stolen and crippled and sick are being presented as offerings! Should I accept from you such offerings as these?” asks the Lord. “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!” Mal. 1:12-14
Last night, we heated up leftovers from a dinner the day before. I’m not a huge fan of leftovers, they don’t taste nearly as good to me as freshly cooked food. But we didn’t want the food to go to waste, so we reheated them.
You know who else doesn’t care for leftovers? God. But that’s precisely what Malachi says that the Jewish priests were giving Him. They were allowing diseased animals and animals that were stolen to be sacrificed on the temple altar. “Why waste the good animals for something that’s going to be burned anyway?” was their thinking. These priests were failing miserably in their roles as Spiritual leaders, completely in contempt. Yet they believed that God needed them just as much as they needed Him.
This got me to thinking: In what ways do I give God my leftovers?
Time, talents, and treasure: these are the gifts that God has entrusted to each of us, as His stewards. These things don’t belong to us, they belong to God. So what we do with them truly matters. But if you’re like me, it’s real easy to lose sight of that some days. Sometimes I forget that He has entrusted these things to me for one purpose and one purpose only: In order that I may use them to reveal His glory.
What would it look like to wake up every morning and ask God, “Father, you know everything I have at my disposal and you know my strengths, the things I’m good at. Lord, would you show me how I might best use all that you have entrusted me with so that I may reveal your glory today? “
You see, the ultimate starting point for every believer who wants to be a good steward of all that God has entrusted to him is the constant awareness that everything he has, everything he enjoys, and everything he achieves is only possible because of our Heavenly Father’s abundant mercy and grace. In John’s gospel, Jesus tells us, “Apart from me, you can do nothing” (15:4-5).
And yet how often do we think to ourselves, “Well, I’ll have to double my morning devotional reading tomorrow because I simply don’t have time this morning.” Or, “Money is tight right now, but I’ll make sure I give when my finances are better.” Or, “I really would like to lead this Bible study, but I’ve got a lot going on with my kids at the moment.” We’ve got a million excuses, and all of them sound perfectly reasonable. But God removed all those excuses when His Son died on the cross for us. We have no excuses.
Perhaps the biggest problem with sacrificing for the Lord is just, uh, well..
It requires sacrifice.
But it’s more than just a feeling of obligation. Hopefully we’ve outgrown that attitude, like, “Well, God wants me to pray so I guess I’ll pray.” No, God wants the best of us, not just what’s left of us. He wants our hearts to be engaged, involved, and aligned with Him. Otherwise, we’re just going through the motions and missing out on the greatest blessing of all – our closeness to Him.
Questions Worth Considering
1- In what ways am I giving God my leftovers?
2- In what ways am I using my time and talents to glorify God?
3- What are the next steps I can take to become a better steward of God’s time, talents and treasure He’s entrusted to me?
Former Blackout Artist 