Serving Leftovers

Read Malachi 1:18

Tim Kizziar once said, "Our greatest fear as individuals and as a church should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter." When you think about it, so many of us are successful at so many things. But are we successful at what really matters?

The prophet Malachi wrote about people who were serving God their leftovers. And I think if we'll take the time to consider Malachi's words and Kizziar's as well, what it comes down to is am I serving God or am I serving myself. I just have to be honest with you, lately I've been so frustrated with hearing stories of folks who know what God desires but do their own thing anyway. With their lives, they're serving God their leftovers; they're not giving God their very best.

When Malachi says what we offer God is less than our best he says it is evil. We don't think of it this way do we? We think of ways to justify our behaviors and attitudes because let's face it we're busy people. So what we give God we expect Him to be pleased with because in our society something is better than nothing. From the beginning of time, God has been crystal clear. Some offerings are acceptable to Him and others are not. Just ask Cain, whose offering God "did not look with favor" on (Genesis 4:5).

What I want us to do is not get caught up in why God wasn't pleased with Cain's offering. I want us to think for ourselves - is what I'm offering God with my life pleasing to God (every area of my life)? Let's be sure what we offer God is not labeled as evil, less than our best for the One who gave His best to us. Love Him with your life!