If God is the most important Person in our lives, that should be obvious. We should make time to serve in the local church. Our giving should be the first thing that comes from our budget. We should be keen to use our talents to build others up, not only to make more money.

In Malachi chapter 1, God pointed out a major problem with the worship that the people of God were bringing to him. The people of Judah had returned to their homeland after many years in exile. They had rebuilt the temple and the walls of Jerusalem and had resumed the worship required in the law of Moses. This meant that they were bringing the animals for sacrifice at the right times as God had prescribed for them.

The animals that were to be brought for sacrifice were very costly. We have some idea about how expensive meat is in the supermarket, but animals have always been expensive to raise. They cost a lot to feed and take a long time to grow. Most people back then didn’t eat meat anywhere near as regularly as we do today; meat was a special occasion kind of food. And the returned exiles were small in number and not exactly prosperous.

All of this led the people to bring animals for sacrifice that were less than perfect. Some of them were blind, others were lame, others had even been stolen from other people. God was furious with them for this. This broke the law which required perfect animals without blemish, pointing to the future Lamb of God (Jesus) who would be perfect and without sin. And it revealed a great deal about their hearts. They did the religious things expected, but they didn’t give of their best. They gave the rest, the leftovers, the second-best options.

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