A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? 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.Malachi 1:6-7
Easter is just around the corner! It’s the season we celebrate the risen Christ. It is also a time for families to get together. I say this because I am from a very large family. When we get together, we make certain delicious foods that normally end up being leftovers. Serving leftovers can be one of the best things we can do. Some things taste better served the next day. As a matter of fact, we make more in order to ensure that there will be some leftover. This is true for a number of foods. There really is nothing like homemade soups served again on the second day. However, there is nothing good about serving leftovers to God, which has become the norm for far too many Christians.
Being in ministry for quite sometime now, I have seen several common leftovers that are being served to God:
We serve leftovers to God in our worship when we consistently show up late and pray for the preacher to land the plane so we can get on with our day.
We serve leftovers to God in our careers when we give less than our best efforts.
We serve leftovers to God in our relationships when we find more satisfaction in our relationships with others — than we do in our relationship with God.
Make no mistake, when we consistently remove God from first place in our lives, it is not long before God has virtually no place in our lives at all.
The Scripture in Malachi provides several examples of Christians offering God leftovers. They knew what the Law of Moses required for the animal sacrifices they offered to God. All animal sacrifices were to be without spot or blemish, for two very good reasons. First, God is without spot or blemish. And second, these unblemished animals were a foreshadowing of the perfect sacrifice that was to come in Jesus Christ.
So what did the priests do? The priests chose the way of convenience and decided to give God less than their best animals. They gave God their leftovers and kept the best for themselves. Their goal was to make worship what they wanted worship to be: convenient, comfortable and cost effective.
And we are no different. We do exactly the same thing when we give God less than our very best in worship. We are to make God our first priority in everything we do. God has a plan and purpose for each of us. God made it perfectly clear when God said, “I am a jealous God.” God demands exclusivity, and that is exactly what God deserves. God is our God and is worthy of our absolute best, not only during the Easter season but every day. “Don’t give God leftovers!”
Rev. Marion J. Miller is the Senior Pastor of Wesley United Methodist Church, 1201 Thomas V. Bryant Drive, Jeffersonville, IN. She may also be contacted at 812-283-3747 or via email at wesley1201@sbcglobal.net.
