What you know should inform what you do. Israel was failing to remember their relationship with God. The relationship they had known should have informed their behavior, but they had forgotten. We must remember.
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It is in the nature of all of us to be selfish. However, by keeping in our selfishness, we lose. This is a principle of God’s world. We impoverish ourselves by hoarding when we should be generous.
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We need to guard against always seeing evil in others and not in ourselves. Sometimes the greatest evil in our hearts is the way we see other people. Instead of seeing the faults of others and wishing judgment on them, we ought to try to make a difference in the world.
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We can't go into God's presence and expect Him to receive our worship if we dishonor and abuse those He loves and those who are created in His image. Your treatment of others is a reflection of your estimation of the value of God.
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The second great offense in the book of Malachi was that the priests were allowing the first to take place. They were accepting and facilitating faulty worship. Because the Levites were provided for by the people, they were literally hurting themselves by accepting the pathetic offerings from the people. So the people were being lead to stumble, and by their stumbling they were hurting those who were leading. Our failure to do right hurts ourselves and others. We diminish our lives and the lives of others by failing to uphold the truth.
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When God's people act out of duty versus devotion, they're always going to do the bare minimum. This was the state of the nation of Israel in Malachi's day. God was not being honored. He was not even receiving the base levels of honor that were willingly given to men. The small amount God was given was a weariness to the nation. The fact that the pathetic gifts were a weariness was actually the bigger problem. God wasn't just concerned about the gift, but He was also concerned about the attitude of giver.
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At this point in Israel’s history, the nation of Israel was still under the power of Persia, and they were discontent. They felt that God hadn’t really come through for them. They wanted to move on as a nation as God had said they would. Instead of serving God in the midst of their unfavorable circumstances, they became very apathetic. God in turn sends messengers to address the nation’s condition. God, in His first message, reminds the nation of His love. When God chooses you, you’re chosen. That choice does not change. He loves His children because He chose them. Those who are God’s choice never stop being the objects of His love.
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God will return when He intends to return. God is concerned with how we live in the interim. We ought to live in such a way that we can be blessed. We're waiting for a return, but we have to make a decision: how are we going to wait? We can waste the days of waiting, or we can be part of God's plan. Live in light of the glorious return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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The idea that beauty comes through pain is found throughout the New Testament. It was true for the nation of Israel, it's presented as truth throughout the New Testament, and it's true for us. We are saved through the pain and suffering of Jesus Christ. After Salvation, we are to be refined by suffering. The fact that so few Christians embrace this is fact is the reason we see so few Christians that look like silver and gold. Elementary Christianity is the ability to endure suffering with a joyful, right spirit. We often forfeit the deepest joys in life because we refuse to give up a life of ease and comfort.
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Zachariah was trying to tell the people of Israel in chapter 12 that a better day was coming. Zechariah said that there would come a day when they realized just how good God had been to them, and realizing this, they would weep because they had neglected Him. The Creator God of the universe is in control of your present circumstances. The goodness of God should always lead his children to repentance. We may look back one day and realize the One Who was pierced for us was worthy of more of our devotion.
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If we're not careful, we'll persist is pushing for what we want, and we may get it. But in doing so, we may lose what we had. In time, people often get the king they deserve. It is only when we do things God's way that we can experience God's blessing.
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Worldly-wisdom, pragmatism, and self-reliance may get you somewhere, but they wont get you where God can get you. Yet, worldly-wisdom, pragmatism, and self-reliance are a huge temptation for us. Trusting things other than God for life's successes and rewards is tempting, but we should not place faith in the world to meet our needs.
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God chooses to accomplish His will through His own power, not man’s. God saves and protects His people through his own power. We are limited in power and resources, God is not. The primary means by which God’s people are to achieve victory and success is God’s power. If we think we can win in life and gain success based on human effort and wisdom alone, we are sorely misguided.
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You reap what you sow. If you want your life to be better, plant seeds now. The only thing that stands between you and what God wants for you is probably you. People often give up on something that is better because it is hard. God wants to bless us, but we have to do our part. We have to sow.
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God says, “Your relationship with me will be evidenced by the way you treat other people.” God is concerned about the vulnerable. God is concerned with social justice. He is concerned that those who have the power to help others do so. A gospel void of a desire to help others is not pleasing to God.
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God gave Zechariah a vision, and in chapter 6, God revealed to Zechariah that He is sovereign and in control of everything that is taking place in the world. The theology of God’s sovereignty continues to our present world and current condition. Our understanding of this great Bible truth should be reflected in our faith, our hope, and our praise.
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There is no place for abuse of others in a community of faith. We can’t build the community of faith God wants if we are careless in the way we treat other people. We can’t bring Babylon into the church and be okay. There is an evil that, if we’re not careful, can filter and find its way into the church.
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God’s Spirit, power, and Truth are what this world needs. God’s Spirit and Truth are the solution to all of life’s problems, not systems and methodologies. His Spirit is the answer. It’s the answer for your brokenness. It’s the answer for your weakness. It’s the answer for your bitterness. It’s the answer for our church. It’s the answer for your family. It’s the answer for our mountain of challenges. Let us never underestimate the power of the Spirit in our lives, and let us never fail to ask for this power.
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