God Deserves Better: Examining the Quality of Our Worship and Sacrifices For God
“When you give blind animals as sacrifices, isn’t that wrong? And isn’t it wrong to offer animals that were crippled and diseased? Try giving gifts like that to your governor, and see how pleased he is!” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
Malachi 1:8 NLT
Have you ever received a less-than-stellar gift from a friend or family member and felt like the heart behind it was more out of obligation than heartfelt love? Depending on your response, I would imagine that you would feel hurt, angered, annoyed, and second-rate. After all, why even give the gift if it didn’t come from a good place? I would imagine that this is how God felt in Malachi 1:8.
This scripture is a difficult one to read because God speaks of defiled, broken, and blemished sacrifices. The sacrifices that were given to Him was the equivalent of someone giving a box of half-eaten chocolate while feeling like they’re doing the recipient a favor or giving a ripped up outfit. God isn’t pleased with any of the sacrifices given and makes it known that He won’t accept anything that is second-best or broken.
While we might not sacrifice animals to God like they did in the Old Testament, we do have our own sacrifice and that’s our praise and worship to God. Reading this scripture should cause us to really examine our hearts and see what type of sacrifices we’re offering up to God.
After all that God has done for us and been to us, God deserves better. He won’t force you to give better but when you really love someone, you want to give the very best to them. This especially applies to God.
Of course, I get it. You can’t outgive God no matter how hard you try. Even if it seems like what you have to give may not be good enough, you know that your sacrifice and worship is coming from a place of deep devotion and heartfelt love. The best part is, when you give your best sacrifice and worship to God instead of the broken, defective scraps and leftovers, God delightfully accepts it just like anyone would accept a heartfelt gift.
Knowing that God deserves our best sacrifice and worship, it’s always good to examine our hearts with these questions:
What kind of sacrifice am I offering to God?
Is it from a pure heart or a thoughtless, disconnected place?
Keep in mind that there are a few things that can keep us from giving God our best sacrifice:
Unconfessed sin
Cares and worries of the world
Lack of trust in God/ anger with God
While there’s so much more, these are typically the main culprits that hinder us from giving God what he truly deserves: the best.
What’s in our hearts will reveal the quality and attitude of what we give from it.
If our hearts aren’t clean, what do you think will come out in our thoughts, words, actions, and worship?
God deserves better. Though we may not be perfect, we can alway strive to give God our best.
