God Motivation and The Professionals

And this second thing you do. You cover the LORD's altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the LORD was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth.
(Malachi 2:13-15)

Yet another question and yet another direct (and somewhat painful) answer.  It is apparent that in the giving of gifts to the LORD upon the alter, God was making it clear that He was not pleased.  It has been established already in Malachi that many of the offerings themselves had been physically tainted--animals that were blind or in some other way inappropriate.  But maybe there were a lot of "good offerings" too.  Maybe some of the priests were holding to the right forms and making sure that they followed the guidelines for the kinds of gifts that were to be given on the alter.  It could be that they had all that down and were saying at the end of a day, "Well, another satisfactory job done.  Offering law number 1?  Check.  Offering law number 2?  Check.  Offering law number 3?..."  You get the picture.  But then God looked and, figuratively speaking, shook His head.  Ouch.  The tears ensued.  "What else do you want God?!"

The Levites were the community's holy men, priests who took care of the people's sacrifices.  That was their job.  But then God did the unthinkable.  He invaded their home lives and asked for purity!  Gasp!  How could He?!  Somewhere along the line everyone came up with the idea that it was OK for priests to be one thing outside of work and another within it.  There was a line drawn in the sand between professional life and personal life.  God had given them wives and children to care for and lead in the ways of godliness, showing the kind of steadfast love that the Lord Himself displays.  But, you know, things weren't working out sometimes on that front and so it became "better for everyone" for the priests to work things out their own way...again, outside of work of course.

Those times really were not so different from some of the core junk we deal with today in the church.  And God's standards haven't changed.  In fact, for followers of Jesus, the bar has been raised and the language inclusive.  ALL such believers are said to a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices (1 Peter 2:5).  For Christians, there is no divide between professional and personal or any other sort of divide that we might try to make.  God and His glorification is to be our motivation in all that we do wherever we go--work, home, school, etc.  May He set our hearts (for it is the heart that He has always been after) in such a wholly devoted place today.