Malachi 1:6 A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Where have we despised thy name?
Ah my Friends, I’m sure the Lord’s shaking His head and saying the same things of us right now; ‘Where is mine honour, where is my fear?’ The Israelites had become disenchanted with the Lord, and led by the priests, were not doing as God required. I like how the prophet Malachi puts it; ‘A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master.’ One of the Ten Commandments is ‘Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.’ (Ex.20:12) And we keep calling the Lord our Father, but wherein do we honour Him eh? All we do is show Him disrespect by not obeying His statutes. Many of us, in our youth, and even in our maturity now, wouldn’t dare disobey any rules our earthly fathers laid down for fear of severe retribution. So why don’t we do likewise with our Heavenly Father, who is so much more powerful than the mortal, earthly ones? Is it because He’s a Spirit, not flesh, and we tend to disregard what we don’t see and fear more what we do see? Moses reiterated all that stuff in Deuteronomy 6. ‘Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and serve him…ye shall not go after other gods…ye shall not tempt (test, try) the Lord your God…ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God…And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the Lord: that it may be well with thee…’ (vs.13-18) Oh people, how much more do we need to hear or see before we get the message? We don’t honour the Lord like a Father, or serve Him like a Master. We disobey every one of His commands with impunity: All sorts of petty gods proliferate amongst us; me make graven images and bow down to them. We take the Lord’s name in vain. We don’t honour the Sabbath, nor our parents. We kill, commit adultery and steal, with such reckless abandon that those habits have more become the norm rather than the exception. Sin is so prevalent now, so common place, that it no longer bothers us, or gets us upset, the way it should. And then, like the priests of Malachi’s time, we wonder why we’re fallen on hard times and the Lord wants to destroy us? According to the Lord, ‘ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar…and if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the Lord of hosts. (Mal.1:7-9) Oh Friends, it’s the same thing we’re doing today: when we do remember God, we offer left over’s, damaged, poor quality stuff, that we wouldn’t dream of offering men in high positions, but it seems perfectly okay to offer it to our Creator and Heavenly Father. How disrespectful! Whereas, the Good Book directs, ‘And if there be any blemish therein, as if it be lame, or blind, or have any ill blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the Lord thy God.’ (Deut.15:21) That’s right people! The Lord our God should always come first and offered the best quality, not last and with remnants. Not even the pagan gods would accept such dishonour. Why then should we expect our mighty and magnificent Deity, the One True God to accept it? Oh Friends, I know at times it’s rather difficult to live a life honouring our Most High God Jehovah, especially when the enemy’s all around us, throwing his evil darts every which way. But we have to understand, that He has to first see us genuinely trying, before He extends mercy and lends a helping hand. He needs to see genuine sincerity in our hearts first; the faith, the believing without seeing, before He intervenes. That’s the nature of our Christian journey, though hard, with true faith, not impossible. Most of us, both sane and insane, will agree that there’s just too much hate, greed, oppression, poverty, injustice and evil currently running rampant in our world. Even those who stand to profit the most from all the negativity, would probably admit that it’s too much now, we’re getting too close to the edge, in danger of losing control. And what’s the answer, the solution? Oh Friends, there’s only one sure fire answer, one positive solution: Putting the Lord God Jehovah first in our lives. Making Him the focus of everything we think, say and do. Obeying Him, showing the respect and reverence He so richly deserves for being such a worthy and wonderful Father to disobedient children. By being true and trusted servants, graciously serving Him, the way a true and trustworthy Master deserves. Oh people, that’s the only way we’ll solve the problems of this world; by going back to some of the old fashioned values; treating each other decently, turning back to the Most High God, our heavenly provider, asking His forgiveness and worshipping Him in all glory and honour! Much LOVE!…to everything there’s a season… this is the season for truly honouring God…
Ah my Friends, I’m sure the Lord’s shaking His head and saying the same things of us right now; ‘Where is mine honour, where is my fear?’ The Israelites had become disenchanted with the Lord, and led by the priests, were not doing as God required. I like how the prophet Malachi puts it; ‘A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master.’ One of the Ten Commandments is ‘Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.’ (Ex.20:12) And we keep calling the Lord our Father, but wherein do we honour Him eh? All we do is show Him disrespect by not obeying His statutes. Many of us, in our youth, and even in our maturity now, wouldn’t dare disobey any rules our earthly fathers laid down for fear of severe retribution. So why don’t we do likewise with our Heavenly Father, who is so much more powerful than the mortal, earthly ones? Is it because He’s a Spirit, not flesh, and we tend to disregard what we don’t see and fear more what we do see? Moses reiterated all that stuff in Deuteronomy 6. ‘Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and serve him…ye shall not go after other gods…ye shall not tempt (test, try) the Lord your God…ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God…And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the Lord: that it may be well with thee…’ (vs.13-18) Oh people, how much more do we need to hear or see before we get the message? We don’t honour the Lord like a Father, or serve Him like a Master. We disobey every one of His commands with impunity: All sorts of petty gods proliferate amongst us; me make graven images and bow down to them. We take the Lord’s name in vain. We don’t honour the Sabbath, nor our parents. We kill, commit adultery and steal, with such reckless abandon that those habits have more become the norm rather than the exception. Sin is so prevalent now, so common place, that it no longer bothers us, or gets us upset, the way it should. And then, like the priests of Malachi’s time, we wonder why we’re fallen on hard times and the Lord wants to destroy us? According to the Lord, ‘ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar…and if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the Lord of hosts. (Mal.1:7-9) Oh Friends, it’s the same thing we’re doing today: when we do remember God, we offer left over’s, damaged, poor quality stuff, that we wouldn’t dream of offering men in high positions, but it seems perfectly okay to offer it to our Creator and Heavenly Father. How disrespectful! Whereas, the Good Book directs, ‘And if there be any blemish therein, as if it be lame, or blind, or have any ill blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the Lord thy God.’ (Deut.15:21) That’s right people! The Lord our God should always come first and offered the best quality, not last and with remnants. Not even the pagan gods would accept such dishonour. Why then should we expect our mighty and magnificent Deity, the One True God to accept it? Oh Friends, I know at times it’s rather difficult to live a life honouring our Most High God Jehovah, especially when the enemy’s all around us, throwing his evil darts every which way. But we have to understand, that He has to first see us genuinely trying, before He extends mercy and lends a helping hand. He needs to see genuine sincerity in our hearts first; the faith, the believing without seeing, before He intervenes. That’s the nature of our Christian journey, though hard, with true faith, not impossible. Most of us, both sane and insane, will agree that there’s just too much hate, greed, oppression, poverty, injustice and evil currently running rampant in our world. Even those who stand to profit the most from all the negativity, would probably admit that it’s too much now, we’re getting too close to the edge, in danger of losing control. And what’s the answer, the solution? Oh Friends, there’s only one sure fire answer, one positive solution: Putting the Lord God Jehovah first in our lives. Making Him the focus of everything we think, say and do. Obeying Him, showing the respect and reverence He so richly deserves for being such a worthy and wonderful Father to disobedient children. By being true and trusted servants, graciously serving Him, the way a true and trustworthy Master deserves. Oh people, that’s the only way we’ll solve the problems of this world; by going back to some of the old fashioned values; treating each other decently, turning back to the Most High God, our heavenly provider, asking His forgiveness and worshipping Him in all glory and honour! Much LOVE!…to everything there’s a season… this is the season for truly honouring God…
SCRIP-BITS 