7a By presenting defiled food on My altar…

8 When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is it not wrong? And when you present the lame and sick ones, is it not wrong? … asks the LORD of Hosts.

— Malachi 1:7a, 8

And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God by walking in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,

— Deuteronomy 10:12

how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

— Hebrews 9:14

and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.

— Ephesians 5:2

Thoughts on Today’s Reading

Grace, mercy and love from Christ to you.

At Malachi’s time, Israel’s priests and people dishonored God with impure lives and blemished sacrifices, robbing God of His due honor and respect. God’s requirements of pure hearts and holy service exist for His children today. He remains worthy of true worship and excellent service. We are to present ourselves as living sacrifices and give Him our best – not out of duty or to earn His favor but out of love for Him. Yes, we sin and fall short of God’s standard. At times our worship is distracted or we serve a checklist rather than God.

However, we are never without hope. As blemished sacrifices ourselves, we ask for God’s forgiveness and restoration. Through Jesus’s shed blood and the Holy Spirit’s power, our meager service and offerings become fragrant to God. The shed blood of Jesus removes the stain of our sin and makes us acceptable to God. The Holy Spirit then empowers our actions and gives them beauty. Through this divine teamwork, our small, imperfect works become a sweet, pleasing offering to the Lord.