I remember back when I was in seminary, there were those special occasions that I had pizza for breakfast. I ordered the pizza the night before and there was enough left over for the next day. It was not the best tasting food, but it got the job done.
When my children were smaller, we had several piles of used clothes that were “hand-me-downs” or “consigned” from families that we knew. These were the clothes that we dress them in for rolling in the dirt, the spaghetti lunches, and any other expected “messy” event. They were the left overs.
When the time would come to receive visitors, go to church, or go outside to shop or visit others, we would dress them in the new clothes that were bought–ones that we had specifically for them so that they would look nice.
How terrible is it when we give God the left overs of our worship! When we give God the last two minutes of the day for a quick prayer as we drift to sleep; when we walk into the place of our worship in shorts and T-Shirts; when we give our left-overs from our paycheck as an “offering”.
Our Lord, in the Bible, asks this same question. He says;
“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?’ 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. 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)
Are we truly worshiping God today or are we offering up our left-overs? We must seek to worship God with our best–our best of everything and never forget that he is a holy and righteous God.
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Photo from Unsplash.com
This post is a fresh rewrite of a post titled “Left Overs” from December 2007