Malachi 2
Admonition for the Priests
1 "And now this admonition is for you, O priests. 2 If you do not listen, and if you do not set your heart to honor my name," says the LORD Almighty, "I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not set your heart to honor me. 3 "Because of you I will rebuke [a] your descendants [b] ; I will spread on your faces the offal from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it. 4 And you will know that I have sent you this admonition so that my covenant with Levi may continue," says the LORD Almighty. 5 "My covenant was with him, a covenant of life and peace, and I gave them to him; this called for reverence and he revered me and stood in awe of my name. 6 True instruction was in his mouth and nothing false was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many from sin.
7 "For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, and from his mouth men should seek instruction—because he is the messenger of the LORD Almighty. 8 But you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble; you have violated the covenant with Levi," says the LORD Almighty. 9 "So I have caused you to be despised and humiliated before all the people, because you have not followed my ways but have shown partiality in matters of the law."
Judah Unfaithful 10 Have we not all one Father [c] ? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our fathers by breaking faith with one another? 11 Judah has broken faith. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the LORD loves, by marrying the daughter of a foreign god. 12 As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the LORD cut him off from the tents of Jacob [d] —even though he brings offerings to the LORD Almighty.
13 Another thing you do: You flood the LORD's altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. 14 You ask, "Why?" It is because the LORD is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.
15 Has not the LORD made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. [e] So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.
16 "I hate divorce," says the LORD God of Israel, "and I hate a man's covering himself [f] with violence as well as with his garment," says the LORD Almighty. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith.
The Day of Judgment 17 You have wearied the LORD with your words. "How have we wearied him?" you ask. By saying, "All who do evil are good in the eyes of the LORD, and he is pleased with them" or "Where is the God of justice?"
Our Daily reading and devotion:
Proverbs 4:20-27
20 My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words.
21 Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart;
22 for they are life to those who find them and health to a man's whole body.
23 Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.
24 Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips.
25 Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you.
26 Make level [a] paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm.
27 Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.
February 8, 2008
The Secret Garden
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READ: Proverbs 4:20-27
Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life. —Proverbs 4:23 About this cover The Secret Garden, a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, tells the story of Mary, a young girl who goes to live with her wealthy uncle Archibald on his estate in England. Mary gets to know Dickon, a working-class boy who loves nature. The two children discover a fenced-in garden that Mary’s uncle has locked up because it reminds him of his deceased wife. The garden looks dead because of neglect, but Dickon assures Mary that, with proper tending, it will recover with new life. With the children’s help, “the secret garden” eventually bursts forth with colorful, fragrant blooms.
All of us have a secret garden of the heart. How we tend it will determine what speech and behavior it produces. Proverbs wisely admonishes us: “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life” (Prov. 4:23). The word keep means “to watch or guard with fidelity.” Guarding what we take into our hearts and monitoring our response will determine what takes root there. As we remove the thorns of resentment, weeds of lust, and roots of bitterness, we can replace them with the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23).
Are you tending the garden of your heart? —Dennis Fisher
Think not alone of outward form;Its beauty will depart;But cultivate the Spirit’s fruitsThat grow within the heart. —D. De Haan
God wants you to water the seed He’s planted in your heart.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers:
February 8, 2008
The Cost of SanctificationLISTEN: READ:
May the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely . . . —1 Thessalonians 5:23 About this cover When we pray, asking God to sanctify us, are we prepared to measure up to what that really means? We take the word sanctification much too lightly. Are we prepared to pay the cost of sanctification? The cost will be a deep restriction of all our earthly concerns, and an extensive cultivation of all our godly concerns. Sanctification means to be intensely focused on God’s point of view. It means to secure and to keep all the strength of our body, soul, and spirit for God’s purpose alone. Are we really prepared for God to perform in us everything for which He separated us? And after He has done His work, are we then prepared to separate ourselves to God just as Jesus did? "For their sakes I sanctify Myself . . ." ( John 17:19 ). The reason some of us have not entered into the experience of sanctification is that we have not realized the meaning of sanctification from God’s perspective. Sanctification means being made one with Jesus so that the nature that controlled Him will control us. Are we really prepared for what that will cost? It will cost absolutely everything in us which is not of God.
Are we prepared to be caught up into the full meaning of Paul’s prayer in this verse? Are we prepared to say, "Lord, make me, a sinner saved by grace, as holy as You can"? Jesus prayed that we might be one with Him, just as He is one with the Father (see John 17:21-23 ). The resounding evidence of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life is the unmistakable family likeness to Jesus Christ, and the freedom from everything which is not like Him. Are we prepared to set ourselves apart for the Holy Spirit’s work in us?
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft:
On the Right Track, but Missing Something - #5500 Friday, February 08, 2008
We were waiting at a stoplight, just across the street from some railroad tracks. The gates by the track were up and no lights were flashing. There was no train coming. But just beyond the railroad crossing was one of those little rail inspection vehicles, fitted with the wheels that allow them to ride on the tracks. On the side it said, "Union Pacific." But believe me, this was no train. Suddenly, we heard this obnoxious and continuous honking on a horn that sounded like a train horn. The little vehicle wanted to proceed through the railroad crossing, and he was nowhere big enough to trigger the gates or the lights so the traffic would stop. So the operator just kept leaning on the horn as he passed through the intersection, hoping we would all stop for him as we would for a train. We did stop, but we weren't fooled. This was no train. This was a train wannabe!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "On the Right Track, but Missing Something."
That little guy wore the label a train carries, he sounded like a train, he traveled on the same track as a train, but he was no train. He made me think of a lot of people who are rolling along on the Jesus-track. They carry the label. They call themselves a Christian. They know all the words, so they sure sound like a Christian. And they're active in church and Christian activities, so they're on the same track as a Christian. But they're missing one thing - the only thing that really matters ultimately. They're missing Jesus. It could be someone who's listening right now is that person. It could be you.
How can I say that there are people who look and sound and act like a Christian but have somehow missed Jesus? Because that's what God says in the Bible. In our word for today from the Word of God in Matthew 7, beginning with verse 21, there's a scene from the Final Judgment and it's pretty sobering for us religious folks. Jesus says, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven." These are obviously people who know all the Christian words. Then it says, "Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?'" These are folks who are doing lots of Christian things. Surely they are going to heaven.
Jesus then makes this shocking statement: "Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me...'" Those are words I pray you will never hear from the lips of Jesus on the day when it's too late to change it, "I never knew you." Why? Because they only knew about Jesus. There's one base they missed, giving themselves to the Jesus they knew so much about. Lots of Christianity, but missing Christ.
Jesus said that only those who "do the will of My Father" will go to heaven. John 6:40 tells us what that will is: "My Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life." It's not looking to church, or Christianity, or Christian beliefs, or Christian activities that give you eternal life. It's abandoning any other hope of heaven and pinning all your hopes on the Man who died for your sin and rose again to give you life that never ends.
The life-or-death question for you is, "Has there ever been a time when I actually gave myself to Jesus in total faith?" If you don't know you did that, you probably didn't. And you probably shouldn't wait any longer to do it before your heart turns hard or your time runs out.
Just tell Him, "Jesus, I want to really belong to you. Your death for me is my only hope, and I am yours." When you do that, in God's own words, you "cross over from death to life" (John 5:24). If you want that, I want to encourage you to visit our website. You'll find there some great help in this journey into the arms of Jesus Christ; how you can be sure you belong to Him. You can go to yoursforlife.net. And I urge you to go there as soon as you can.
Once you know you've begun your relationship with Jesus, you'll never have to fear hearing Him say, "I never knew you." He will wrap you in His arms and instead, He'll say, "Welcome home."
