(25) When God Says, “Stop Worshiping – I Don’t Do Left-Overs!”

Everyone in our family loves left-overs. One time my wife cooked every dinner for a whole month in one Saturday. For the next month, we basically ate leftovers every day. It was great, just pick something out of the freezer and pop it in the oven or nuker.

But I know there are others who want a fresh cooked meal at every meal. I have met more than one person who wanted a cooked meal for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I have a friend who absolutely will not eat left-overs of any kind at any time.

When it comes to worship, God’s like my friend. He wants our best efforts, He expects to have first priority. God doesn’t do leftovers.

The LORD of Heaven's Armies says to the priests: "A son honors his father, and a servant respects his master. If I am your father and master, where are the honor and respect I deserve? You have shown contempt for my name!"But you ask, 'How have we ever shown contempt for your name?' 7"You have shown contempt by offering defiled sacrifices on my altar."Then you ask, 'How have we defiled the sacrifices? '"You defile them by saying the altar of the LORD deserves no respect. 8When you give blind animals as sacrifices, isn't that wrong? And isn't it wrong to offer animals that are crippled and diseased? Try giving gifts like that to your governor, and see how pleased he is!" says the LORD of Heaven's Armies. 9 Go ahead, beg God to be merciful to you! But when you bring that kind of offering, why should he show you any favor at all?" asks the LORD of Heaven's Armies. 10"How I wish one of you would shut the Temple doors so that these worthless sacrifices could not be offered! I am not pleased with you," says the LORD of Heaven's Armies, "and I will not accept your offerings. (Malachi. 1:6-10)

Let me try to paraphrase this passage in a nutshell synopsis. God is saying, "You’re disrespecting me and disregarding me. You don’t even treat me as good as you do your fathers or governors. You keep the best for yourself. You only give me what you don’t want for yourself, your left-overs. I don’t’ want your left-overs. In fact, please, just close the doors and stop coming if all you’re giving is the left-overs you didn’t want after serving yourself."

Remember, God told Israel to bring the best of their flocks, animals without blemish to sacrifice in worship. The people were keeping the best for themselves and bringing God the lame and disfigured animals they had no use for. All God was getting was the throw-aways.

But God doesn’t do left-overs. If all we have to give Him is our left-over time, energy, money, and attention, that we begrudgingly give then God says, "Keep it." Giving God only our left-overs is a grave offense of dishonoring and disrespecting Him.

But don’t make the mistake of thinking that the answer is to give God first place. This thinking is faulty because it tends to say, "Give God first place and once you’ve done that, the rest is yours." But the Bible teaches us that God desires, deserves and demands all our time . . . all our energy . . . all our money . . . all of our abilities . . . everything invested in the advancement of the worship and praise of His glory. Paul says, "Do all to the glory of God." (1 Cor. 10:31)

Let me put this more practically and, well, bluntly with a few questions to ask yourself.

1. Is my daily time in God’s Word and worship determined by how busy my schedule is for the day and how much time I feel I can spare or have left over at the end of the day?
   
2. Is my church attendance based on whether or not I have something around the house I want to do, a game I want to watch, or some other activity I want to do?
   
3. How often do I skip church because I’ve got other things to do?
   
4. Do I make it a priority to be rested and well prepared to worship God or do I show up tired and distracted, thinking about what’s next?
   
5. Am I seeking to do ALL for the glory of God . . . to make my life, all of it, an act of worship?
   

When our worship is only the left-overs of our time, effort, and money, then God says, "Stop worshiping!"

God deserves that every thought of our minds . . . every beat of our hearts . . . every affection . . . every word . . . every ounce of our energy . . . be focused on Him . . . His exaltation, praise, and worship. He deserves that we continually, completely, and constantly give Him all the glory and honor with all of our energy. He deserves every thought . . . every affection . . . every energy . . . every heart beat . . .every breath. Soli deo gloria!


Soli Deo Gloria

NEXT: Getting Back to the Heart of Worship