The dialogue between God and the people through the prophet Malachi continues in Chapter 3. In this interchange, God declares that He does not change.
His eternal purpose to use the people of Israel as the vehicle for the salvation of the world has not changed.
God – For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, have not perished.
God – Ever since the days of your ancestors you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. (Malachi 3.6-7)
The word for repentance in the Old Testament is “to return.” It depicts a people walking away from God, who then stop and realize the error of their ways. At that point, they stop and return to God.
This is what God, through the prophets, calls the nation of Israel to do repeatedly. A return to our love relationship with God is always in order.
When we realize the kind of character that God has and is willing to share with us, it makes great sense to turn to Him and live in that relationship.
When we recognize how frequently we have failed as we live apart from God, it makes great sense to return to Him to learn His ways of living.
What’s In Your Wallet?
Very clever commercials for a credit card company ask the question, “What’s in your wallet?” In God’s dialogue with the people, He asks them, in effect, “What’s in your wallet?”
This is because what we have in our wallet often reflects our relationship with God and whether we have returned to Him in sincerity and truth or not.
The People – But you say, “How shall we return?”
God – Will anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing me!
The People – How are we robbing you?
God – In your tithes and offerings! You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me—the whole nation of you!
God – Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing. (See Malachi 3.8-10)
Some vitamins are advertised on the label to fulfill the daily minimum requirements for adults. Tithing, in my opinion, fulfills the minimum requirements we give to God.
If we’re not giving 10% to the Lord, then we have failed in that realm. However, it is the daily minimum. but there is much more.
Jesus said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others” (Matthew 23:23).
Jesus didn’t tell people to stop tithing, but tithing is not enough. He highlighted justice, mercy, and faith that need to be central in our lives.
I think the best course of action is to strive to live a Jesus-kind-of-life. We can look at the life of Jesus and ask, how can I adopt His attitudes and his actions?
We can read the Gospel message and say to the Lord, “Lord, help me live like Jesus.” That is the kind of return to God that will open the door for God to return to us. There, we will enjoy a relationship with the Greatest of All.
YouTube Video
Rudy Ross and I discussed this passage on YouTube today. It is on the Bob Spradling channel.
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