1:13
The priests regarded making offerings to the Lord a burden, a weariness. The offerings they brought were defiles because that had either been obtained by unjust means (by violence) or were imperfect (lame or sick animals). We too can view giving to the Lord a burden. A typical sign of this is people asking whether or not tithing should be based on net or gross income (after or before tax). The answer to this question is actually irrelevant, for when we ask this question it is indicative of a far deeper problem. It should be a joy to give to the Lord (2 Cor 9:7). We should rejoice in God involving us in His work. If we come with wrong attitudes, if we give with wrong attitudes, we should not expect the Lord to accept our offerings. I will give one caveat on this. There maybe times (in fact, almost certainly will be) sometimes when we find difficult, or we feel a tension within us. If in those times we make an act of will to give to the Lord despite these tensions, such offerings are good and will help change our feelings as well. Giving is a deeper act than our surface feelings.
1:14
Now things get really serious. The man who gives a lame animal when he has a perfectly healthy animal is cursed. Remember that a good working definition of curse is “God’s judgement on man’s sin”. To treat the Lord like this is to treat Him with contempt. And this is God whose name will be feared among the nations. We need to take a much longer view of things, to realise the foolishness of what we are doing if we start having a mean and stingy attitude towards giving.
No comments:
Post a Comment