God tells the Israelites through Malachi that they are defiling his altar by bringing blind, diseased and crippled animals as their offering.

He tells them they can go ahead and beg for mercy, but why should God show them any favor at all?

God asked them and he’s asking us today for the first fruits of our labor.  The first.  The best.

Not the leftovers.  Not the amount that we can do without.

And he showed us exactly how to do this when he sent his son, Jesus.  His first.  His best.  For us.  He held nothing back.

God could ask for it all – since it’s all his.  And God does ask some people to give it all – including their lives.

For the rest of us, he asks that we put him first and give him our best.                      

Then we can anticipate his blessings as we are obedient and walk in his will.

Thank you, dear Father!

Who are we?

David raises this question to God in Psalm 144.

He asks God why he even notices us.

Why does God think about us at all?

We are like passing shadows and yet God loves us.

He created us in love and he gave us the choice whether to love him back or not.

He didn’t need us when he created us and he doesn’t need us now……

But he loves us and he wants us to love him back.

We have no significance at all – except the significance God gives us by adopting us and making us his children…….

When we believe.  When we choose him and love him back.

Thank you, dear Father, for giving us significance.

Dear Father,

You have told us what is good.

You have told us what is required of us….

to do what is right,

to love mercy,

and to walk humbly with you.

It is our prayer, as we roll very quickly into the new year,

*that your spirit will live in us more boldly. 

*that your truth will be our daily compass.

*that we will love the things that you love

*and hate the things that you hate.

Please help us walk very humbly

and very closely

with you, our God, in 2013.

John’s letter to the church in Laodicea accuses them of being  just lukewarm.

Neither hot or cold.

And he tells them he wishes they were one or the other….not just lukewarm.

Lukewarm is comfortable.

It seems like a safe place to be, doesn’t it?

But then John goes on to tell them that they think they have everything they want but they are in fact miserable and poor and wretched and naked….

and blind.  Which is probably why they don’t realize what bad shape they are in.

Blindness.  We all have blind spots.  John is telling us that being lukewarm and ‘comfortable’ is one of those blindspots.

He challenges them to turn from their indifference.

And he challenges us today as we read this.  Where are the areas of our faith where we are lukewarm?

Dear Father, please open our eyes to our blind spots and grow our passion for you until it becomes very uncomfortable to be anywhere but in the center of your will.

“And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us.”

God has given us proof.

We know this is true because we read it in the Bible.

And we feel his presence…

when he whispers.

when he wraps us in the shelter of his arms.

when he works things out for us and it’s better than what we had planned.

when he gives us the right words to say at just the right time.

or he helps us keep our mouth shut at just the right time 🙂

Thank you, dear Father!