Hi everyone. I'm just reading Malachi chapter 1, the whole thing, 1 to 14.
The Oracle of the Word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi.
I have loved you, says the Lord, but you say, how have you loved us?
Is not Esau Jacob's brother, declares the Lord?
Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated.
I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to the jackals of the desert.
If Edom says we are shattered, but we will rebuild the ruins, the Lord of hosts says,
they may rebuild, but I will tear down, and they will be called the wicked country,
and the people with whom the Lord is angry forever.
Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, great is the Lord beyond the border of Israel.
A son honours his father, and a servant his master.
If then I am a father, where is my honour?
And if I am a master, where is my fear?
Says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name.
But you say, how have we despised your name?
By offering polluted food upon my altar.
But you say, how have we polluted you?
By saying that the Lord's table may be despised.
When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil?
And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil?
Present that to your governor.
Will he accept you or show favour?
Says the Lord of hosts.
And now entreat the favour of God, that he may be gracious to us.
With such a gift from your hand, will he show favour to any of you?
Says the Lord of hosts.
Oh, that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain.
I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts.
And I will not accept an offering from your hand.
For the rising of the sun to its setting, from the rising of the sun to its setting, my name will be great among the nations.
And in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering.
For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts.
But you profane it when you say that the Lord's table is polluted, and its fruit, that is, its food, may be despised.
But you say, what a weariness this is, and you snort at it, says the Lord of hosts.
You bring what has been taken by violence, or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering.
Shall I accept that from your hand, says the Lord?
Lord, cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished.
For I am a great king, says the Lord of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.
Three simple words.
I love you.
They're probably, I think, the words we crave most to hear.
They're simple words, as I said, yet they declare a really complex relationship.
Relationship.
A relationship of personal delight.
A valuing.
Acceptance.
Long-term commitment.
Three simple words, and yet they're also very confronting words.
They are so powerfully emotional in the context of a relationship.
They're actually so outrageous in their claim.
And they're also so challenging in the responsibilities they infer.
And they're three simple words which will always bring a response.
Always.
That response might vary.
It might be a shallow response.
So we might actually, like so many people, just say love you as the way to start or end an interaction with somebody.
And it's just a sort of warm, fuzzy thing that doesn't really show any awareness of the actual state of the relationship.
Or the responsibilities involved in it.
Just love you.
Love you.
It's a very common way of speaking in our society.
Or it could be self-affirmation.
We actually could think when somebody says, I love you, well, no surprise there because I'm very lovable.
And I deserve to hear those words spoken to me.
And others, I can understand, are very keen to get into my friendship circle.
Or we can respond with suspicion.
We hear the words, but we don't feel there's any practical evidence of those words being real.
We might even suspect their motivation.
That is, we might think somebody's playing with the notion of love to get something else from us.
Or we can meet them with belief and acceptance.
That is, hearing the words in and of itself is an incentive to value the relationship even more.
It defines and describes the relationship and makes us want to long for even a greater love, a deeper relationship.
And we commit practically to growing that relationship.
But as I said, one thing is clear.
In response to the words, I love you, we will have a response in our hearts.
And that response will become obvious through our actions towards the person who expressed their love for us and to us.
And that's what connects us into God's message to his people through Malachi.
There's 55 verses in Malachi.
And 47 of those verses are God speaking directly to his people.
God speaking and uncovering the hidden thoughts and attitudes and responses in the hearts of his people.
And so God is saying, I love you to his people.
And then the balance of what's been said in here is God uncovering their response to that statement of his love and that experience of his love.
So in a sense, the whole of Malachi is about God saying what he thinks about what his people think of him.
And that's what makes it very, very confronting.
Because God shines a torch into our heart attitudes.
And it's not just confronting because of that, but it's confronting, I think, if you're going to be like me,
because the attitudes that are exposed are all too familiar, all too common.
In response to God's statement, I love you.
Well, let's jump into the text then with the first heading.
The love affirms, the Lord affirms his active commitment to his people.
When he says, the opening lines, I have loved you.
I have loved you.
Now, the final words before a period of being apart are always important.
They're always passionate.
Because those words are the words that will sustain the relationship until renewed communication.
And it's just so in this oracle through Malachi.
These are the last direct words the Lord says to his people for more than 400 years.
The next words are actually through John the Baptist and the arrival of Jesus.
And so it's not surprising, therefore, that for a period of separation, God closes down by saying,
I have loved you.
That's what he wants his people to take away with him.
And remind themselves of on a daily basis.
And so they're warm.
They're rich.
They're relational words.
They're expressing God's heart for and his commitment to his people.
The perfect tense, I have loved you, highlights a consistent and unwavering love,
which has begun some point in the past and continues into an undefined time in the future.
These three words describe, or actually four words,
these words describe the reality of the Lord's relationship with his people since,
go all the way back to Abraham,
when God cavernanted with his people to love them and bless them.
That's more than a thousand years earlier.
But then, as Matt and Grace brought out, verse 6,
they are also confronting words.
The context is God saying, I have loved you,
but then there's something else happening behind the scenes.
Look at verse 6.
I just feel the heartbrokenness, as it were, of God as Father.
A son honors his father and a servant his master.
If then I am a father, where is my honor?
And remember, in ancient Near Eastern language and culture,
not to honor is to bring shame upon.
If then I am a father, where is my honor?
And if I am a master or a king,
where is my fear or respect, says the Lord of hosts?
See, that says the Lord of hosts.
It's confronting in its awfulness.
God has loved his people generously and consistently,
but they have responded with careless indifference,
suspicion, and even contempt,
as some of the other verses suggest.
And if I can say this,
the Lord here presents as a broken-hearted father,
expressing something of the pain and hurt
of having children refuse to recognize or accept his love.
But the thing is, you see, for God, this isn't new.
200 years earlier, at the start of the prophet Isaiah's oracle,
it was introduced in almost the same way,
almost the same words.
This rejection of God's love is not just a flash in the pan.
This is a deep-seated attitude of God's people.
And we see it coming out in these verses.
Their immediate response,
as God sort of develops this conversation with himself,
but picking up, answering for his people,
because he can see the attitudes of their heart.
Their response,
how have you loved us?
It's a response that brings shame,
not honor, to the Lord.
God makes his people squirm,
facing the reality of horrible, sinful attitudes
that lie deep within them,
by nailing them on their actions,
which are the direct result of those hidden attitudes.
Look at verse 2.
God's people fail to believe God
and take him at his word.
Now, this is the Lord of hosts,
the Lord of the universe,
the covenant God saying to his people,
I have loved you.
By virtue of his own authority
and his own character,
God's people should just have believed that.
That was the Lord's public,
covenanted promise,
stated repeatedly to generation after generation
of his people,
that he would love and bless his covenant people, Israel.
But instead of tears of appreciation,
instead of thankfulness
and a joyful, loving embrace,
their response is really cutting and dismissive.
Hmm.
Well, that's a very interesting thought, Lord.
Can you just give me a little bit more information?
How exactly have you loved us?
Their accusation ignored the hard evidence of history
as well as the repeated public statements of the Lord.
The hard evidence of history
that the Lord then is forced to defend
and reiterate here in verses 3 onwards,
3 through 4 and 5.
Look at history, the Lord's saying.
I've demonstrated practically the nature and extent
of my love for my covenant people.
Against all normal expectations,
against all traditions,
God covenanted to love and bless Jacob's descendants,
not Esau's.
Their status and history as God's special loved people
was entirely due to this fact
that God graciously committed himself to loving them
as opposed to Edom's line or Esau's line.
And the difference is,
Jacob's line was blessed
and enjoyed the constant blessing and favor of the Lord.
Edom's line enjoyed the constant anger
and condemnation and judgment of the Lord.
The two statuses couldn't be any more different.
What explains the difference?
God's love.
And yet God's people seemed to be oblivious to it
and allowed their immediate circumstances
and feelings to dismiss all this carelessly
and thoughtlessly.
How did that happen?
Well, probably because they had particular expectations
of what God's love would look like
and mean for them practically.
Put bluntly,
they didn't get from God what they thought
they should get from God,
what they wanted from God,
what they demanded from God,
what they thought they had a right to.
So the conclusion is,
well, if God doesn't give me what I want,
then God doesn't love me.
Now, doesn't that sound very familiar to us?
But at another point,
there might be something even more sinister happening here.
It's quite likely, I think,
that their questioning of God's love
was because they wanted to avoid the implications
of acknowledging it.
In other words,
they wanted the benefits of God's blessing,
but didn't want to feel a sense of indebtedness
to the Lord for his love.
Or they didn't want to have a sense of responsibility
to the Lord given his love
and given his ongoing relationship with them.
So in a sense,
I think God's people might be playing
a very clever victim status game here.
That is,
casting themselves as victims,
suggesting that God was at fault
in all of this interaction,
and thereby shifting the focus away
from their own heart response
to a perceived failure on God's part.
Now again,
isn't that so very familiar to us
in how we operate our own relationships
at different levels?
We play the victim
and push the responsibility onto somebody else.
And I think that fits with verse 5.
At your own eyes shall see this,
and you shall say,
great is the Lord
beyond the border of Israel.
I think what the Lord's saying there
is that their response to God's love
should have demonstrated
to the world
how great God is.
That was God's desire for his people.
It wasn't the reason why he loved them,
but it was a desired outcome
of his love.
And then God's people
have also lost their vision
of God's value and worth,
picking up from verses 6 onwards then.
And again,
the Lord cuts through
and moves beyond
all the various religious activities
of his people.
And he exposes the heart attitude
that are behind all the books
taking religious activities.
And this part of section
is addressed to the priests,
but I think the connection is
that while the priests
particularly are being pinged
by the Lord,
their attitude has sort of
trickled down
and become the attitude
of the whole people.
So we can say
in modern parlance,
from the very top down,
this attitude has just become
debased and sloppy
in response to the Lord.
They're still going through
the motions,
doing the ritual worship,
but the Lord shows
there's no vitality,
no substance in it.
It is what we call
box ticking.
Verse 6 again,
they claim to love,
they love to claim
God as their father,
but there's no concern
to honor him
as an obedient child.
There's no concern
to treat him
as an honorable,
worthy father.
They're quick to say
that God is their master,
their ruler,
or their king,
but care little
for their approach
to God
and care little
for respect
of him
in his holiness.
In short,
they've taken their
relationship with God
for granted.
Again,
in modern parlance,
their actions speak
much, much louder
than their words.
And it reveals
their heart attitude
which has trivialized
and made a mockery
of God's name,
of God's character.
And again,
God's people
try to deny this reality.
They try to protest
their innocence.
But the plain truth
was that they no longer
thought of God
as worthy to be served.
No longer thought
of God as worthy
to be honored
as a great God
or a loving father.
Look at verse 13.
This is just awful
in the extreme,
isn't it?
The Lord exposing
what's in their hearts.
They wouldn't say this out loud,
but this is what they're feeling
in their hearts.
What a weariness
this is.
That is,
the reference
to serving the Lord.
Ho-hum,
what a weariness
this is.
And you snort at it.
Snorting,
as far as I can see,
is just a sort of
a contemptuous,
ugh,
I'm stuck here.
I really don't want
to be doing this,
but I can't see
any other way out of it,
so I suppose
I have to get on with it.
It's dreadful.
Dreadful.
In their heart,
they resented
the demands
of relationship
with the Lord.
That relationship
which was one
of blessing
and goodness,
which you'd think
would automatically
would bring thankfulness,
but it doesn't.
They resent it.
Why?
Because of the implications
and responsibilities
attached to it.
serving the Lord
was tedious
and boring
and restricting.
So their worship
became formal
box ticking.
They were just
doing what they thought
in terms of sacrifices
and prayers
and going to the temple.
They were doing
what they thought
would keep God on side,
maintain respectability
before others
of their countrymen,
secure the practical benefits
they wanted
from the Lord
and thought they deserved
and perhaps even expected.
Giving them to the Lord
in reward
for their efforts
of doing the sacrifices
and praying.
So it becomes
a circular argument.
It's just so empty
and formal
and offensive.
So put simply,
we can say
that God's people
didn't even begin
to love him
in the way
that he had loved them.
Jordan Peterson
defines love
as ascribing
the highest value
to something.
Well,
God intended
his love
for his people
to lead them
to ascribe
to him
the highest value
imaginable,
the greatest
obedience
possible,
the most
extravagant
praise
expressible.
In other words,
God expected
a response
to his love
from his people
that would
quite literally
idolize him
because that's what it is
to idolize somebody.
It is to ascribe
the highest value
to them
and make them
the center
of your attention
and worship.
But far
from idolizing
the Lord,
they treated
him with shame
as they idolized
themselves
because that's really
what they're doing
here.
They're idolizing
themselves
before God
because
they looked
at God
and then they
looked at what
they were doing
in the religious
activities
and they
added them
all up
and thought
well actually
God should
sort of be
quite
happy
and content
and even
grateful
that we would
do this for him
and be like
this to him.
That God
would be very
happy just
with whatever
they chose
to give him.
And that
then extends
into
they developed
a forgiveness
is easy
attitude
to sin.
There's a lot
in here
about sacrifices
and there
will be
in the subsequent
chapters.
At the heart
of the sacrificial
system
was the reality
and Matt
and Grace
brought that
out again
this morning
was the reality
that it was
actually very
very difficult
for the holy
or clean
God
to maintain
fellowship
or have any
fellowship
with dirty
or sinful
people.
The holy
and clean
don't mix
with the dirty
and sinful.
In God's
loving provision
for his people
the proper
offering of a
sacrifice
ensured
that sin
wasn't a
barrier
to ongoing
relationship
ongoing
fellowship
ongoing
communion
between God
and his people
even as his
people continued
to be sinful.
The sacrifice
averted God's
wrath
God's judgment.
Now
the seriousness
of sin
is reflected
in the demand
for the quality
of the
substitute
sacrifice.
Only the best
was acceptable
as an offering
or substitute.
The choicest
portion of food
the best
of the flock
were
but what
were these
people
presenting
to the
Lord
as a
symbol
of how
serious
they thought
their sins
were
and how
much
they thought
their relationship
with the
Lord
was under
threat.
Well
vegetables
had pretty
well gone
off in
the fridge.
They're a bit
too far
gone to have
for tea.
We'll take
them to the
temple for
sacrifice.
They won't
be wasted.
We're being
very modern
and economical
and environmental.
Or
they would
come across
an animal
in their
field that
had been
taken by
violence.
In other
words it
was already
dead.
Killed
by some
reason or
other.
Oh
beauty
a sacrifice.
Or
they'd
look
around
for
an
animal
who
was
about
to
die.
It was
sick,
diseased,
deformed.
That would
be good
enough.
We don't
really want
it anyway.
It's not
going to
cost us
too much.
That will
work out
fine for
a
sacrifice.
That was
the attitude.
As I
express it
without
hopefully
hearing
just how
abhorrent
that is.
And they
took them
all to
the
temple
and guess
what?
The
priests
didn't
question
any of
it.
The
priests
said the
same
attitude.
Yeah,
that'll
be fine.
You're
here,
taking
all the
bucks.
And each
time that
happened,
God's
people were
heaping
shame on
the
Lord.
Even
worse,
verse 14.
Cursed
be the
cheat
who
is a
maleness
flock
and
vows
it
and yet
sacrifices
to the
Lord
what
is
blemished.
So here's
the duplicity
of God's
people.
Knowing that
God can
see the
attitudes
of their
heart.
What are
they doing?
With
their lips
they're
saying,
look,
I'm
deadly
serious
about
worshipping
the
Lord.
I will
only give
the
Lord
the
best
because
the
Lord's
only
worth
the
best.
Or
worth
only
the
best,
whichever
the
right
way
to
say
that
is.
And
then
they
turn
around
all
the
while
intending
to
just
give
them
a
rubbish
sacrifice.
And
the
offense
of that
to the
Lord
is
mentioned
here.
Brazen
dishonesty
and
deceit
as
if
somehow
or
other
they
could
pull
one
over
on
the
Lord.
giving
him
the
rubbish
and
keeping
the
best
for
themselves.
What's
behind
that
attitude?
Well,
behind
that
attitude
is the
thought
that
sin
isn't
a
big
deal.
And
forgiveness
is
something
that
God
is
expected
to
do.
And
it's
not
a
big
deal
for
him
either.
And
even
worse
is
the
offense
that
this
caused
the
Lord.
If
you
look
in
verse
7,
the
altar
is
referred
to
the
table.
And
there's
only
two
places
that
happens
in
the
Old
Testament
as
far
as
I
can
understand
and
they're
both
here
in
Malachi.
And
I
think
what
it's
doing
here
is
talking
about
the
altar
as
a
sacrifice
but
then
the
table
is
a
picture
of
fellowship
and
the
two
things
come
together
in
a
sacrifice.
So
the
sacrifice
is
to
deal
with
sin
that
then
allows
for
ongoing
fellowship.
So
it's
very much
like a
family
meal
in a
sense.
A
little bit
like
Lord's
supper
but
there
are
obviously
very
significant
differences.
But
there's
that
idea
of
fellowship.
And
so
it's
as if
God's
people
were
coming
to
his
table
waltzing
in
without
any
regard
for
the
holiness
of
the
Lord.
Careless
near
enough
is
good
enough
attitude
trivialized
the
basis
of
fellowship
with
God
as if
it
was
very
easily
achieved
very
easily
maintained
and
very
hard
to
break.
And
then look
at
Lord's
summary
in
verse
10
and
11.
Oh
that there
was one
among you
who would
shut
the
doors.
He's
talking about
the temple
there.
Let me
paraphrase
that.
I wish
to
goodness
somebody
would
just
close
the
doors
and
close
the
temple
down
that
you
wouldn't
be
bothered
kindling
fire
on my
altar
because
it's a
serious
waste
of your
time
and
mine.
I
have
no
pleasure
in
you
says
the
Lord
of
hosts
and
I
will
not
accept
an
offering
from
your
hand
but
then he
goes on
to say
something
seems to
be quite
contradictory
from the
rising of
the sun
to its
setting
my name
will be
great
among
the
nations
and
in
every
place
incense
will be
offered
to
my
name
and
a
pure
offering
for
my
name
will
be
great
among
the
nations
says
the
Lord
of
hosts
the
Lord
is
deeply
offended
by the
treatment
of his
people
they are
in
serious
danger
he's
not
surprised
by it
however
this is
nothing
new
in
verse
15
as
well
as
verse
11
as
the
great
king
he
is
he
will
continue
to
display
himself
to
all
the
nations
as
a
great
king
so
I
move
then
to
just
draw
some
application
and
conclusion
out of
this
passage
because
verse
10
and
11
put a
huge
amount
of
tension
and
threat
and
at
the
same
time
anticipation
into
God's
last
challenge
of his
people
before
his
silence
of
400
plus
years
and
then
the
arrival
of
Jesus
and
here's
the
threat
he
will
not
accept
an
offering
from
their
hand
which
leaves
them
under
the
guilt
of
their
sin
and
under
the
imminent
threat
of
God's
wrath
God's
judgment
and
yet
the
Lord
says
there
will
be
sacrifice
to
my
name
and
my
name
will
be
great
and
there
will
be
a
pure
sacrifice
so
the
tension
then
is
how
will
Lord
do
both
how
will
he
continue
to
his
promise
to
love
and
bless
his
people
while
at
the
same
time
refusing
to
accept
a
sacrifice
from
their
hand
a
people
who
refuse
to
idolize
them
and
treat
sin
with
impunity
and
yet
he
wants
to
relate
to
them
as
the
holy
God
how
will
he
do
that
how
will
he
find
pleasure
in
people
verse
10
that
he
says
he
has
no
pleasure
in
and
against
all that
God's
promise
his
name
will
be
great
there
will
be
acceptable
relationship
there
will
be
intimate
fellowship
at
his
table
in
the
future
friends
these
things
are
totally
incompatible
until
we
hear
what
I
love
to
say
is
the
whisper
of
Jesus
in
the
words
of
Malachi
listen
now
turn
with
me
to
Romans
chapter
5
we're
just
going to
touch
down
there
just
fairly
quickly
and
I'm
done
then
Romans
chapter
5
verse
6
7
and
8
for
while
we
were
still
weak
at
the
right
time
Christ
died
for
the
ungodly
for
one
will
scarcely
die
for
a
righteous
person
though
perhaps
for
a
good
person
one
would
dare
even
to
die
but
God
shows
his
love
for
us
in
that
while
we
were
still
sinners
Christ
died
for
us
since
therefore
we
have
now
been
justified
by
his
blood
how
much
more
shall
we
be
saved
by
him
from
the
how
do
we
move
away
from
incompatible
statements
well
it's
simply
this
God
has
always
been
working
towards
Jesus
throughout
the
Old
Testament
because
Jesus
is the
greatest
demonstration
of his
love
which
would
do
two
things
both
it
would
deal
with
the
sin
of his
people
and
renew
them
from
the
inside
out
so
they
have
new
attitudes
new
desires
new
ability
to
idolize
him
and so
when
God
says here
to
Malachi
I will
not
accept
an
offering
from
your
hand
I will
not
accept
a sin
or
fellowship
offering
from
your
hand
opening
the
way
to
enjoy
a
place
at
my
table
when
he
said
that
all
the
while
he
was
thinking
and
that's
because
I
intend
to
present
an
offering
from
my
own
hand
that
will
do
for
you
that
which
you
cannot
do
for
yourself
God's
people
couldn't
offer
that
which
was
necessary
to
deal
with
sin
and
renew
fellowship
God
took
that
on
board
and
his
intention
all
along
was
to
do
that
for
his
people
knowing
that
the
only
way
he
would
have
a
great
nation
without
number
that
would
idolize
him
is
if
he
dealt
with
their
sin
and
renewed
their
hearts
and
we
see
in
Jesus
then
the
nature
and
extent
of
God's
love
God
really
did
give
the
best
of
the
flock
as it
were
so to
speak
his only
son
he
really
did
give
the
best
for
the
sake
of
the
worst
immeasurable
cost
to
himself
God
gave
his
best
to
die
so
the
worst
might
live
and
that
my
friends
is
what
we
call
the
gospel
more
than
that
we
see
Jesus
in
the
New
Testament
contrasted
with
these
priests
Jesus
is
the
true
priest
when
the
priests
in
Malachi's
day
got it
wrong
all
God's
people
got it
wrong
in
line
with
them
but
when
Jesus
the
great
high
priest
gets
it
right
then
all
God's
people
get it
right
in
line
with
them
the
great
high
priest
who
properly
understood
the
seriousness
of
sin
who
properly
mediated
between
God
and
his
people
who
properly
brought
them
both
to
the
altar
which
was
himself
and
the
sacrifice
which
was
himself
so
that
there
might
be
a
dealing
with
sin
and
a
renewal
of
fellowship
that
the
Lord's
people
might
come
to
his
table
forever
in
enjoyment
Jesus
is the
great
high
priest
God's
people
have
always
needed
but
never
had
until
Jesus
turns
up
and
all
of us
all of
that
enables
us
to
idolize
the
Lord
in
our
everyday
response
to
him
our
everyday
worship
and
as one
writer
says
if we
can see
that
vision
of
the
Lord
then
it
will
be
both
soul
thrilling
and
sin
destroying
soul
thrilling
and
sin
destroying
soul
thrilling
as we
understand
the
extent
of
God's
love
sin
destroying
as we
gladly
live
out
our
indebtedness
under
the
hand
of
the
Lord
Jesus
friends
I
just
finish
on
this
then
there
will
be
some
here
this
morning
who
aren't
believers
a very
simple
question
for you
if you're
not yet
a
Christian
then
it would
seem to
me that
you've
not yet
properly
considered
and understood
those three
simple words
that the
Lord wants
to say
to you
today
I
forward
I
have
loved
you
God
loves
you
wants
to be
your
father
and calls
you to
be his
child
to a
life of
blessing
and renewal
what would
stop you
from doing
that
unless
you're
determined
to continue
to idolise
yourself
and think
you can
work out
some sort
of deal
with God
that will
secure
your future
that may be
your thinking
at the moment
but I tell you
it's dangerous
ground to
stand on
and if you
are a believer
then
do you
see how
you're
reluctant
to respond
wholeheartedly
to God
is so very
ugly
Malachi
is a book
I've lived
in a lot
over the
last seven
or eight
years
and this
is what
I come
back to
time and
time again
the ugliness
of
speaking of
God's
love
and yet
deliberately
and willfully
holding back
my best
as I
respond to
him
oh I
know as
Christians
we're
constantly
speaking
of
promising
God the
best in
everything
we say
well the
best of
our time
the best
of our
thinking
the best
of our
energies
the best
of our
lives
the best
of our
money
God the
best of
all these
things
and we're
so readily
content to
serve up to
the Lord
the leftovers
the things
in our life
that cost us
little to
give over
friends
let's not
shame the
Lord
by our
actions
even while
we speak of
honoring
him
all
visions