What is Your Decision?
Malachi 3:13-4:6
Spiritually apathetic people seem to believe that it is a waste of time to serve God. They see no value in obeying God. Their attitude is, “What’s in it for me?” Many believers would never actually say that serving God is a waste of time, but their actions reveal their real attitudes and priorities. They insult God, not with their words, but with their insincerity and indifference.
Malachi 3:13-15 teaches that the Lord has charged the people with concluding that serving God was useless. Their perspective was their lives were no better for serving God; there were no benefits. Yet, the wicked appeared to prosper. Even though many today say it is useless to serve God, we, as believers, are to continue to serve the Lord with all our hearts, minds and strength.
Honoring God brings His reassurance to His people who know and serve Him. The greatest thing a person can do is to know the will of God and do it without question. The Lord has given people a clear choice, and with that choice we determine our eternal fate (4:1-2). God expects those who have chosen Him to serve Him. God knows, and rewards those who are faithful. The Lord keeps records. He will punish the wicked with fire from the furnace. Those who are arrogant and evildoers will be cast into the lake of fire (4:1).
In Malachi 4:4-6, God told the people to stay true to His instruction given through Moses, and He warned of a prophet who would come prior to the day of the Lord. The believers should be encouraged when the Day of Judgment comes. In verse 4, “remember” involves more than an intellectual recall of information. It refers to a relationship with Christ.
Dinkins– Lessons in the BSL series for the summer quarter are being written by David Dinkins, pastor of First Baptist Church, Kingstree, and former director of missions.