All Hearts and Minds Clear

6 “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?’ 7 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. 8 When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? “Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor?” says the Lord of hosts.

Malachi 1:6-8 (ESV)

As we prepare to go before God in worship today I really want to ask you to examine your heart. What exactly are you taking with you before God today? You see to many times we walk into the sanctuary carrying a mess with us. We bring a heart filled with anger and fear, a spirit that is living in poverty because we do not care for it by reading God’s word. A mind that is already thinking about what will be for lunch today or anyone of a thousand issues that might be going on in our lives. But when we do these things it’s because we no longer fear the Lord. Those of us who have been walking with God cannot use the excuse well I did not know. We should be coming with the hearts and mind prepared to worship our God. When we do not we are like those who defile the house of God and bring in the week blind animals who are unworthy to be sacrificed in the temple. God expects us to worship Him with a love and abandon not worrying about those around us or even for ourselves.

You see it is true often we will do more to prepare to meet others that we believe to be special or have importance than we do our God who is and should be the most important person in our lives. If we treated people in authority the way we treat God a lot of us would be in trouble. At the least we would find ourselves in a lawsuit for liable just for the use of their name in a profane way. God will one day hold court and every soul will be judged for their lives, words and deeds. Then it will be too late to worship Him properly. I pray God prepares your heart for worship today. God has promised to show you what to do if you will obey His word and worship.  I challenge you today, go expecting and willing to receive what all God has for you as you walk in the light of His Word.