Tag: Sin

Digging in Deeper: Malachi 3:5

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“‘I will come to you in judgment, and I will be ready to witness against sorcerers and adulterers; against those who swear falsely; against those who oppress the hired worker, the widow, and the fatherless; and against those who deny justice to the resident alien. They do not fear me,’ says the Lord of Armies.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

What kinds of things beat near to the heart of God? That’s a much bigger question than it might sound at first hearing. At least, it’s a much bigger question if it matters to you at all to care about the same kinds of things God cares about. It is certainly a subject that has been the focus of much tension in the church over the years. Whole religious movements within the church have been built around one person or another’s idea of what matters most to God. Well, while that question doesn’t have anything like a quick, easy answer, verses like this one in Malachi give us a pretty good clue of at least one thing that really matters to Him.

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Morning Musing: Malachi 3:2b-4

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“For he will be like a refiner’s fire and like launderer’s bleach. He will be like a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. And the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will please the Lord as in days of old and years gone by.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Do you want your children to be happy or good? Of course, as parents we want both. But the reality is that we very often have to choose one or the other. The reason is fairly simple. Happy is a feeling and good is a character. What makes them happy in the moment may very well come into direct conflict with what will train them to be good in the long term. That is, the two are often mutually exclusive of one another in any given moment because of the tension between what they want and what they should have. God understands this too, and His preference is always for good. The result is just what Malachi describes here.

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Morning Musing: Malachi 3:1-2a

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“‘See, I am going to send my messenger, and he will clear the way before me. Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to his temple, the Messenger of the covenant you delight in — see, he is coming,’ says the Lord of Armies. But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will be able to stand when he appears?” (CSB‬‬ – Read the chapter)

Be careful what you wish for. Ever been told that? It’s an admonition often given to folks who are seeking something whose reception they haven’t really thought through in all the detail it warrants. The kick is, they don’t always know it. Thus, someone wiser, someone who has perhaps already experienced the thing being sought, offers this caution. The one doing the seeking doesn’t often like to hear this, but it is wisdom worth heeding all the same. Here in Malachi, God is offering the people this very caution. Let’s talk about why.

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Digging in Deeper: Zechariah 13:3

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“If a man still prophesies, his father and his mother who bore him will say to him, ‘You cannot remain alive because you have spoken a lie in the name of the Lord.’ When he prophesies, his father and his mother who bore him will pierce him through.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

How tolerant are you when your children do something wrong? I guess it depends on what kind and how severe of a wrong it is. It also depends on how much of a perfectionist you are and how tired you are and how willing you are to bear with the process of addressing the wrong at the moment. It probably also depends on how old they are and how much intention was involved in their doing it. In other words, it just depends. Okay, let me change the question just a bit and ask it again: How tolerant are you when your children sin? That question may sound similar, but it’s different and its answer matters a whole lot more.

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Digging in Deeper: Zechariah 8:6

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“The Lord of Armies says this: ‘Though it may seem impossible to the remnant of this people in those days, should it also seem impossible to me?’ — this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter)

We live in the midst of a culture in chaos. But, as hard as all of this is to see and hear about, the riots spawning from the murder of George Floyd have not brought to us anything that was not there before. They have simply revealed what was already planted in our hearts. The seeds of racism and wanton violence have been quietly germinating in the soil of many hearts for years. They just need a bit of the waters of injustice and the dark sun of greed and they explode in ugly growth. What are we to do with this?

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