I am not a morning person. I prefer to stay up late and sleep in. However, as a responsible wife and mother I have learned to sacrifice many of my personal preferences for my family. It is only right. I have to make sure that I get rest because they deserve my best.
Likewise, as believers we often give God our leftovers instead of our best, our “first fruits.” God deserves our best honor, respect and faithfulness. The pressures of life often cause us to displace our priorities. We make it to work on time, but we drag ourselves into every church service. We will spend time studying and researching just about anything but the Word of God. It becomes an afterthought. We name the name of Christ, but we live carelessly. “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matthew 6:33
In the first chapter of Malachi we find Malachi, which means my messenger, rebuking the people and the priests for failing to live according to God’s will and neglecting true worship. They brought unclean sacrifices of sick and diseased animals before God. They allowed sinful habits to monopolize their time. Malachi challenged the priests and the people to re-evaluate their haphazard worship and disobedience.
God loves us even when we ignore or disobey Him. That same loving God hates careless living and hypocrites. By giving God our leftovers we repeat the same mistakes as these worshipers. It may require us to wake up earlier for our daily devotion with Him. We owe him that and much more. We cannot be in commune with God without sacrificing our will for His. After all, he gave us His best, Jesus Christ, to whom we are forever in debt. And what is more is that He has great blessings for our faithfulness.
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